Does your everyday work matter?

Greg Leith Aug. 30, 2018

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Does your Monday to Friday work matter to God as much as missions work? It seems that since God is a God of purpose, it’s therefore unlikely he created something that occupies most of our time, to be meaningless. 

In fact, God worked many jobs. He was an artist when he created blue skies, orange sunsets and yellow fish. He was a geologist when he created rock formations and a botanist when he created trees. He was a gardener when he created the perfect biosphere called the Garden of Eden.

He was an engineer when he created intricate, complex living beings called humans and animals, he was a miracle worker/farmer when he created seeds that grow, he was a chemist when he created water and air, he was a sociologist when he created Adam and Eve, he was a music composer when he created songbirds and in the person of Jesus he was a carpenter, a philosopher and a teacher. Work and its outcomes clearly are what God values. 

Work was happening from the beginning. God created work and he is a worker. “My father is always at his work to this very day, and I too, am working” (John 5:17). The Trinity created Earth. They put Adam and Eve in the garden to work there. When the man and woman violated God’s rules, the way work was done changed but work did not go away. Work was there before the earth was formed and it will be there after the earth disappears.

Tim Keller in his book, Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God's Plan for the World notes, “The material creation was made by God to be developed, cultivated and cared for in an endless number of ways through human labor. But even the simplest of these ways is important. Without them all, human life cannot flourish.” 

Work is important

The end of work in Youngstown, Ohio happened on what came to be called, “Black Monday.” It was September 19, 1977. The town’s prosperity was fueled by the steel mills. Society there depended on them, families flourished, homeownership and family income were in the top tier in America. However, things changed after World War II. The Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company announced they would be closing their Campbell Works mill due to economic and legal issues. They let go of 5,000 workers and the entire city lost 50,000 jobs in five years and the region was sent into a depression.

Derek Thompson notes in The Atlantic magazine, “Youngstown was transformed not only by an economic disruption but also by a psychological and cultural breakdown. Depression, spousal abuse and suicide all became much more prevalent; the caseload of the area’s mental-health center tripled within a decade. The city built four prisons in the mid-1990s—a rare growth industry.”

Work is not just a means to an end of supporting missions work. It’s God's design and plan for how we function on earth and in and of itself, it glorifies God, provides meaning and community. 

Here are seven things work does for you as a leader and for those you serve (adapted from Tim Keller);

1. Work is an act of love, giving people a dignity to produce things.
 

2. Work is a place for “otherness” and community.
 

3. Work is serving the common good, not just advancing ourselves.
 

4. Work is allowing people to be creative and imitate God since they were made in his image to be creative.
 

5. Work is loving people in the process of doing it.
 

6. Work is making the culture better.
 

7. Work makes life function, connects the human race, transports people, entertains people and more.
 

Now get back to work because what you do really matters to God!

Photo source: istock 

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Greg's life mission statement focuses on his life passion, which is “to strengthen the great leaders, ideas and organizations of our time so the kingdom causes of Christ can be exponentially accelerated.” He is the CEO of Convene, which helps hundreds of Christian CEO’s meet regularly in small groups to live out their faith intentionally as they combine their love for business with the love for biblical truth. This article was first published on convenenow.com. Used with permission. Learn More »

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