WORK
Twentieth-century
man needs to be reminded at times that work is not the result of the Fall. Man was made to work, because the God who made him was
a “working God.” Man was made to be creative, with his mind and his hands. Work
is part of the dignity of his existence.
A Heart for God, 1987, p. 31, by
permission Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA.
To choose a
career on selfish grounds is probably the greatest single sin that any young
person can commit, for it is the deliberate withdrawal from allegiance to God
of the greatest part of time and strength.
William Temple
We meet God
the Creator as a worker in Genesis 1:1 – 2:2… The image of God in man means man
is to be a worker. The way we work will reveal how much we have allowed the
image of God to develop in us.
Kent Hughes
Disciplines of a Godly Man, Crossway
Books, 1991, p. 148- 149.
Genesis 1
logs God’s commitment to excellence when it says, “God saw all that He had
made, and it was very good” (v. 31). Christians should always do good work.
Christians ought to be the best workers wherever they are. They ought to
have the best attitude, the best integrity, and be the best
in dependability.
Kent Hughes
Disciplines of a Godly Man, Crossway Books,
1991, p. 154.
The idea that the
service to God should have only to do with a church altar, singing, reading,
sacrifice, and the like is without doubt but the worst trick of the devil. How
could the devil have led us more effectively astray than by the narrow
conception that service to God takes place only in church and by works done
therein… The whole world could abound with services to
the Lord…not only in churches but also in the home, kitchen, workshop, field.
Martin Luther
What you do in
your house is worth as much as if you did it up in heaven for our Lord God… We
should accustom ourselves to think of our position and work as sacred and
well-pleasing to God, not on account of the position and work, but on account
of the word and faith from which the obedience and the work flow.
Martin Luther
The works of
monks and priests, however holy and arduous they be, do not differ one whit in
the sight of God from the works of the rustic laborer in the field or the woman
going about her household tasks, but that all works are measured before God by
faith alone… Indeed, the menial housework of a manservant or maidservant is often
more acceptable to God than all the fastings and
other works of a monk or priest, because the monk or priest lacks faith.
Martin Luther
The Babylonian Captivity of the Church.
The Puritans
declared the sanctity of all honorable work. In so doing, they rejected a
centuries-old division of callings into “sacred” and “secular”… This Puritan
rejection of the dichotomy between sacred and secular work has far-reaching
implications. It judges every honorable job to be of intrinsic value, and
integrates every vocation with a Christian’s spiritual life. It makes every job
consequential by regarding it as the arena for glorifying and obeying God and for
expressing love (through service) to a neighbor.
Leland Ryken
Puritan Work Ethic: the Dignity of Life’s
Labors, Christianity Today, October 1979, p. 15
When God says
“work,” He doesn’t say that everyone must produce two tents daily. No, He
simply implores us to work “unto the Lord,” to the best of our abilities (see
e.g., Matt. 25:14-30; Luke 12:47-48; Eph. 6:7). Although we never minimize or
excuse sinful behavior, we treat people with one talent as if they have one
talent, those with five as if they have five. We treat people according to
their abilities.
Edward T. Welch
Blame
in on the Brain? P&R Publishing, 1998, p. 55.
It
is because of our fallen state that some are lazy and refuse to work, while
others are slothful and careless in their work. Sin causes some to view work
selfishly – solely from a financial perspective. In other words, they have
little regard for the service they may be able to render to God or the glory
due to Him. They view work only as a way to get money and thus stuff for
themselves.
Ken Jones
Sloth and Diligence, Tabletalk, May 2008, p.
17, Used by Permission.
The devil
visits idle men with his temptations. God visits industrious men with His
favors.
Matthew Henry
Commentary, 1 Sam. 6:13.
Work becomes
worship when done for the Lord.
Author Unknown
But though I
am always in haste, I am never in a hurry, because I never undertake any more
work than I can go through with perfect calmness of spirit.
John Wesley
Quoted
in: Bill Thrasher, A Journey to Victorious Praying,
Moody Publishers, 2003, p. 179.
The theological
roots of this concept of “vocation” are found in the biblical doctrine of
creation and divine sovereignty. We are by God’s creative decree shaped in His
image and thus designed to reflect in all our endeavors the purposeful activity
of God Himself. All Christians, therefore, should ideally embrace their “work”,
however secular and uneventful it may appear, as a calling of God, a
responsibility for which they have been uniquely endowed that is designed in
its own way to glorify God. One’s “job” or “career” or “occupation” thus has a
meaning beyond mere personal fulfillment. “Ministry” is therefore not what the
majority of Christians perform as “a discretionary time activity – something
done with the few hours that can be squeezed out of the week’s schedule after
working, sleeping, homemaking, neighbouring, washing
and doing the chores” (Stevens, The Other Six Days, 132). It is, rather,
all of life when discharged in faith.
Sam Storms
Are You Called to Ministry – Part I, November 8, 2006, www.enjoyinggodministries.com.
Used by Permission.
We live in a
post-vocational age. Without any theology of vocation we lapse into
debilitating alternatives: fatalism (doing what is required by “the forces” and
“the powers”); luck (which denies purposefulness in life and reduces our life
to a bundle of accidents); karma (which ties performance to future rewards);
nihilism (which denies that there is any good end to which the travail of
history might lead); and, the most common alternative today, self-actualization
(in which we invent the meaning and purpose of our lives, making us magicians).
In contrast the biblical doctrine of vocation proposes that the whole of our
lives finds meaning in relation to the sweet summons of a good God.
R. Paul Stevens
The Other Six
Days: Vocation, Word, and Ministry in Biblical Perspective, Eerdmans, www.eerdmans.com, 1999, p. 72.
If
by doing some work which the undiscerning consider “not spiritual work” I can
best help others, and I inwardly rebel, thinking it is the spiritual for which
I crave, when in truth it is the interesting and the exciting, then I know
nothing of Calvary love.
Amy
Carmichael
Am I in a calling
in which I can abide with God? If you cannot ask God’s blessing upon your
occupation, or if you would be ashamed to be found in it when the Lord Jesus
returns, or if it hinders your spiritual progress, then you must give it up and
be engaged in something else.
George
Muller
The Autobiography of George Muller, 1984, p.
169. All quotations taken from books published by Whitaker House are used with
permission of the publisher. Whitaker House books are available at Christian
bookstores everywhere.
Why do I carry on
this business, or why am I engaged in this trade or profession? In most
instances the answer would be, “I am engaged in my earthly calling so that I
may support myself and my family.” Here is the chief error that causes almost
all the other errors by children of God concerning their calling. To be engaged
in a business merely to obtain the
necessities of life for ourselves and family is not scriptural. We should work because it is the Lord’s will
concerning us” (Eph. 4:28).
George
Muller
The Autobiography of George Muller, 1984, p.
169. All quotations taken from books published by Whitaker House are used with permission
of the publisher. Whitaker House books are available at Christian bookstores
everywhere.
No unwelcome
tasks become any the less unwelcome by putting them off till tomorrow. It is
only when they are behind us and done, that we begin to find that there is a
sweetness to be tasted afterwards, and that the remembrance of unwelcome duties
unhesitatingly done is welcome and pleasant. Accomplished, they are full of
blessing, and there is a smile on their faces as they leave us. Undone, they
stand threatening and disturbing our tranquility, and hindering our communion
with God. If there be lying before you any bit of work from which you shrink,
go straight up to it, and do it at once. The only way to get rid of it is to do
it.
Alexander
MacLaren
As
we carry out our responsibilities on our jobs, here are some questions we would
do well to ask ourselves:
1.
Do I regularly thank God for my job – whether
it is a president of a Fortune 500 company or a garbage collector?
2.
Do I properly respect those at work in
authority over me, even those whose religious, political or moral convictions
are different from mine?
3.
Do I work heartily in whatever vocation I am
placed – knowing that my service is to the Lord?
4.
Do I work hard even when the boss is not
watching?
5.
Do I strive to have as good a reputation with
my coworkers as I have with my fellow church members?
6.
Do I work as efficiently as possible as to
make my company profitable?
7.
Do I refrain from cutting any moral corners
on the job?
8.
Do I make suggestions on how to improve job
performance and morale?
9.
Do I refrain from conversations in which the
boss or supervisor is criticized?
10.
Do I refrain from taking small items from my
employee – paper clips, copy paper, pencils, etc. – even though “everyone else
does it?”
11.
Do I make personal copies on the company
copier?
12.
Do I use the company Internet connection for
my personal use?
13.
Do I fudge on my expense account or time
card?
14.
Am I the same person on the job as I am when
away from the job?
15.
Do I encourage employer respect, rather than
helping create employee dissatisfaction?
1.
Are my work habits sloppy, or do I attempt to
always produce work of excellence?
2.
Am I on time, or am I often tardy at work?
3.
Do I misuse sick leave or personal leave
days?
4.
Do I abuse workers’ compensation benefits?
5.
Do I use company time to witness to my lost
co-workers, or do I wait until break time or lunch time?
6.
Do I remind myself regularly that my job
performance and general attitude can bring either glory, or dishonor, to my
Lord?
Curtis C. Thomas
Life in the Body of Christ, Founders Press, 2006, p.
47-48, www.founders.org. Used by Permission.