From the beginning of time, when life was perfect, God gave us work to do. Work didn’t come into creation after a golden age of relaxation. It was present from the very beginning of the time. Work is a part of our identity as created beings. When God created everything it was perfect…and work was there. We were working at the same time we were walking and talking with God. “Be fruitful and multiply,” He said. “Have dominion over every living thing,” He said. Do these things. Work is something we were created to do. God commanded us to do these things. Work is on our minds at the beginning of each day. We choose colleges because of it, long to discover who we are through it, and are always wondering what might happen to us should we lose it. For 4 weeks, we will be talking about how we are to understand the work we do as not just work, but something God calls us to do. We are going to talk about work as being the primary way to live out our faith.
Tim Keller writes, “A job is a vocation only if someone else calls you to it and you do it for them rather than for yourself. Thinking of work as a means of self-fulfillment or self-realization slowly crushes the person and undermines society itself.” Often times we find ourselves looking for work, working tirelessly, our maybe even coasting at work, wondering “There has to be more to life than this?”
There is. If only we could understand God’s calling to work!
