Operations refer to the normal flow of work, whether in family or administration. “Operations” work is “secular”, being neither religious or non-religious. Anyone can become good at operations or never learn and do a bad job with operations—regardless of religions. The skill of “operating” a boat or bicycle is part of operations. You can learn good operations from anyone.
Operations are neither more nor less important to God than loving God and people. Just how the Second Great Command flow in a sequence, not a hierarchy or priority, operations second in sequence to living God first. Operations actually are part of the Second Great Command.
To make friends, be a friend. To be a friend, do a good job.
Love includes making sure that people don’t get wet from a leaky roof, regardless of whether residents of a house feel affection for the roofer who did a good job. Keep the car working, pay the bills, keep food on the table—these things are part of love. Love also includes tenderness, giving others personal space, and smiling or frowning as needed to get through each unique moment.
Martin Luther taught that the street sweeper and cobbler should find just as much glory in their work as a bishop or priest, not because they are equally glamorous, but because God likes good shoes and clean streets. Jesus himself learned the secular skill of carpentry. But, Jesus’s lifestyle of teaching was also a matter of operations. When his disciples would quarrel mildly or the religious teachers challenged him, Jesus always knew what to say. Jesus’s ultimate work of operations was to die so that anyone who simply welcome’s Jesus in their minds and hearts would be able to continue a positive existence in the next life. Dying at the cross was Jesus’s main operation in his first Earthly ministry.
Since operations are part of the Second Great Command, flowing from the First Great Command to love God, loving God and loving others will make operations flow more smoothly. If you do your work because you love others, knowing that your boss is a Jewish carpenter, you will gain more insight and everything will work out best.