Is Work Bad or Good?
We need to reform our understanding of “work”. If done through a biblical perspective, we discover that work is more than vocation. It is an important part of life as a whole. At first this might appear novel. But consider how work is used in these everyday phrases.
Work: in the garden, office, soup kitchen (cultivation)
Work: on my truck, a cure for Alzheimer’s, affordable housing (problem solving)
Work: on my marriage, parenting, prayer life (relational investments)
Work: on my: back cast, language skills, hook shot (ways we rest)
And a million other ways “work” describes using our time talent and treasure.
We struggle to think broadly about work because we live divided lives. We forget that God’s gifts require stewardship. As a result, “WORK” has become a 4-letter word. Phrases like: “I have to go to work”, “work sucks”, even “work-life balance” reveal a divided mindset. For example: Retirement gets overvalued valued as the highest cultural achievement, even becoming synonymous with quitting work. In contrast, a gospel narrative includes being made in the image of God with good things to do - forever. Our life is not our own. Our real job is to glorify God.
Work does not save you. But following Jesus fundamentally changes how we work, why we work, and what we work on.
The misunderstanding is so pervasive, a phrase like “Faith and Work” is typically understood as a reconciliation of two independent endeavors. However, when we understand “work” in terms of stewardship these two endeavors shift from being mutually exclusive to being mutually informative. “Faith” informs “work” in a way similar to “hope” informing “love”.
People have struggled with this for thousands of years. The challenge is not going away. We know our work should matter, but without a gospel narrative we don’t have a story to contextualize our work (or even our lives).
“Vanity of vanities, All is vanity. What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?... All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full;... What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.”
Profit is good. (but not the love of profit)
One consequence of living a divided life is viewing things as either sacred or secular. This causes a belief that material gain is an unrighteous endeavor (historically called Platonism). Nobody claims to be a Platonist, but it’s baked into our value system. We want our gain (or loss) to matter so we mistakenly attach religion as a redemptive measure. Fancy words for this are: sacrifice, alms, penance, etc.
In contrast, the Bible teaches us that even mundane task have eternal value. We are free to pursue excellence in vocation independent of sacrifice. We do not need to add philanthropy and service to bring our actions value. (Consider how Ruth was poor and Esther had means, but both teach us about stewardship.)
Good News: Our value in the kingdom of God is not contingent on riches or poverty.
Bad News: Our Joy is dependent on this truth. Our perception of work reflects our understanding of the coming Kingdom of Christ. How do you work? Why do you work? What do you work on?
“ so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.”