Dear friends,
In this second examination of our Work, we build on the reality that God has been at the work from the beginning. Incredibly, one of work efforts was to create workers – us!
“God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.’” Genesis 1:28
“The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” Genesis 2:15
What we see here is that despite our daily predisposition to complain and moan about it, work is not something to be despised or avoided. Not only are God’s creative deeds called “work” (Genesis 2:2), but human labour is instituted before the fall as something that is “good”. As those who are made in the image of God, and therefore share God’s task of ruling the world, man, male and female, is told to get to work! Sometimes this is called a “creation ordinance”, just meaning that we were designed from the beginning to be workers.
As you can see from the command “to work the ground”, human labour is originally thought of in very basic terms. There are no computers to turn on, projects to manage, employees to pay or work reviews to complete. The earth and its animals must be cared for, food, clothing, shelter and other necessities must be provided, and we must reproduce. But the Bible provides no criticism for the specialisation of work that soon appears. Human gifts and skills find legitimate and creative expression in an extraordinary variety of occupations. Throughout the Bible all manner of our heroes appear to have all manner of jobs as society changes.
There are limitations and conditions to all this though.
(a) The very young and the very old do not “work”, and their needs are provided for by others. One of the motives for work is that our surplus may provide for the needs of others, especially those in our own families (Ephesians 4:28; 1 Timothy 5:8).
(b) Life in this world is utterly dependent upon work, but it may not be our own work which makes the direct provision. Work flows from our joint responsibility for the creation, and may be paid or unpaid, and directly or indirectly productive of basic necessities. We may not all, “work” but none of us can survive without work.
There is, therefore, no doubt about the value and importance of our work in this world, because it arises from the original work of God and hence from the purposes of God for man and the creation. The human race carries out its work because he has commanded us to do so as the ones who bear his image.
All this doesn’t mean you have to enjoy your job no matter what. But it ought to change the way you think about the nature and purpose of work and perhaps change your attitude towards the necessity of work. Is work not a moment of obedience to God in which we ought to seek to glorify Christ?
In Christ
Nigel