Devote yourselves to prayer. (Colossians 4:2)

Ole Kirk Christiansen didn’t live long enough to see LEGO become the most successful toy company in history. But he did live long enough to see something even greater: a glimpse of how his work honored his Lord. 

Just a few months before his death, Christiansen attended a party to mark his company’s 25th year in the toy business. Christiansen’s son Godtfred, by then the day-to-day leader of LEGO, locked eyes with his father and said, “We all know that this company was born during a time of great struggle and adversity, and that its motto has always been ‘Pray and work.’...You have created something of genuine social benefit, Dad!...I can venture to say that all of us gathered here will continue to strive to do our best, and that our motto remains ‘Pray and work.’”

Ole Kirk Christiansen’s life reminds us that we glorify God by devoting ourselves to prayer. Because as Oswald Chambers said, “Prayer does not fit us for the greater work; pray...

Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people. (Ephesians 6:5-7)

Long before the LEGO brick, Ole Kirk Christiansen got into the toy business by selling wooden yo-yos, toy cars, and ducks-on-wheels. As the business grew, so did his family’s involvement.

Eager to please his father and boss, Christiansen’s son Godtfred tried to make the business more efficient. He thought they could save time and money by shipping ducks with only two coats of varnish instead of the three prescribed by his father.

After shipping an order of two-coat ducks, Godtfred proudly reported his savings. But his father was not pleased. To Godtfred’s embarrassment, Christiansen demanded that he fetch the entire order and give the ducks the third coat. Be...

We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. (Romans 5:3-4)

A jumbled flurry of musical scales filled the front room of Ole Kirk Christiansen’s home. The LEGO founder’s son, Godtfred, was playing the family organ when he felt a heavy hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see his father staring into space, the usual gleam in his eyes veiled by shock.

Godtfred’s hands fell from the keys, the sudden silence somehow louder than the chaotic chords from moments before. Christiansen sat down, took a deep breath, and tried to do the impossible: explain to his son what he didn’t understand and console with a comfort he didn’t feel. His wife and nearly-born daughter were dead.

This was easily the most brutal trial of Ole Kirk Christiansen’s life, but it wasn’t the only one. The entrepreneur watched his LEGO factory go up in flames three times, he was constantly saddled with debt, and his home was commandee...

[Jesus said], I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me…Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me. (Matthew 25:35–36, 40)

On a spring day in 1917, a fourteen-year-old orphan named Viggo arrived in Billund, Denmark, carrying nearly everything he owned in a tiny suitcase. The founder of LEGO, Ole Kirk Christiansen, was there to pick him up at the train station for the start of his four-year apprenticeship.

But Viggo was treated as far more than just an employee. He soon became like an adopted son, sharing daily meals with Christiansen’s family.

As was customary in early 20th-century Denmark, Viggo wasn’t paid during his apprenticeship. But Christiansen went out of his way to teach him how to collect wood shavings...

[The angel] measured the [New Jerusalem] with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia [roughly 1,400 miles] in length, and as wide and high as it is long…The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. (Revelation 21:15-16, 19)

In 1 Corinthians 11:1, Paul said, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” Similarly, we’d be wise to follow the examples of believers throughout history who followed Christ well in their seemingly secular but deeply sacred work. That’s exactly what this new series is designed to help you do, with LEGO’s founder, Ole Kirk Christiansen, as our guide.

Over the next five weeks, Christiansen will help us see five ways to glorify God in our own work today. Here’s the first: We glorify God by accepting his gift to play within our work.

It’s no coincidence that the creator of the world’s most popular plaything was himself playful. As a poor child in early 20th century Denmark, Christiansen tied a hollow rock to a s...