A Biblical Perspective on Work
Work is an integral aspect of human life, a way of provision, a means of purpose, and an area to demonstrate and use talents and abilities.
How do you view your work life? We spend most of our waking hours at work during the week. As a business owner and supervisor to employees, I sometimes joke that “I only expect you to work half days, what you do with the other 12 hours is up to you.” Jokes aside, we spend a lot of time at work. Hopefully, you enjoy work and get a sense of purpose and fulfillment from it.
Over the years, I have come to view my work as a form of worship. I am Christian and I strive to honor my God in all aspects of my life, not just Sundays, but Monday through Sunday.
This view of work as worship has not always been there. In fact, for many years it was a struggle between the two potentially opposing world views of the sacred and the secular, my church life and my all-other life. My life on Sundays and my life all other days of the week. I greatly enjoy worshipping, teaching Sunday School, going on mission trips, and serving others; but I also enjoy creating business opportunities, securing a deal, making a profit, and providing jobs and work for others.
It was like I had this idea that if I was not a pastor or a missionary, then I was a 2nd class Christian that just supported the others that were called by God to do these things. As Christians, we have put pastors and missionaries up on a pedestal while leaving out the other 99% of us that live in the marketplace or work every day. But just like being called to be a pastor, I believe God gifted me and called me into business. To do work, to create, to provide, and to serve others through work.
Work is Good
In much of the world, there is a fundamental conviction among sincere Christians that there is something intrinsically wrong with business and that no serious follower of Christ would go into business, much less consider it a calling. We read headlines today of many terrible things in business – greed, dishonesty, extravagance, exploitation, etc. There is no question that things are seriously amiss in the world of business. But business is not evil. Just like family or government is not evil by nature. The problem with business, just as with everything else in creation, is not in the institution itself but in the people of the institution. Business is not corrupt; the human heart is corrupt. Business is not greedy; the human heart is greedy.
In fact, business or work was part of God’s creation from the very beginning. Before the fall of man and sin entered the world, there was work in the Garden of Eden. In Genesis 1:26-31, God entrusts Adam and Eve and instructs them to manage creation on His behalf. This is considered “The Cultural Mandate” where God is telling them to use their gifts and talents to fill the earth – to subdue it and then to multiply. God is setting up the first business where Adam and Eve are to provide for their needs by working. Everything was sacred before the fall – so Work is good.
Work is a Calling
I am reminded of a scene from the movie Chariots of Fire where Eric Liddell is talking with his sister and explaining to her his sense of calling. Eric was the child of a missionary family from China that had a strong calling to be a missionary in China, but he also was a world-class runner that ran in the 1924 Olympics. He tells his sister that God made him fast and that when he runs, he feels God’s pleasure. He then says that not running would dishonor God by not using the talents and abilities that God has gifted him with. When you are doing what God made you to do, you will feel God’s pleasure and honor and glorify Him. What this means is that if I am a businessperson, this may well be my calling from God and, if so, I should look no further. I should not fall victim to thinking that my activities in sales or management or manual labor or any other facet of business are a non-call or less than a call to be a pastor or missionary. I should view my life in its entirety as a high calling from God, and I should view my work as a part of that holy invitation. I should rejoice in the fact that God called me to work and that since he called me, He has a purpose for putting me exactly where I am.
When is a bird most honoring to God? The bird is most honoring to God when it is doing exactly what God made it to do. We are most honoring to God when we do exactly what we were made to do. What glorifies God is not the quality of the activity but whether it is what God wants me to do at that moment. Again, what honors God is bound up not in the activity itself, but in doing what we were made to do. I believe that everyone has a high calling from God. The highest calling is not being a pastor or missionary but becoming all God called you to be, namely a person who glorifies God in all you do.
Work is Worship
At the heart of the concept of work as worship lies the idea of finding purpose and meaning in what we do. When work is approached with dedication and a sense of duty, it transcends mere financial gain and becomes a means to contribute positively to the world. Whether one is a teacher, an artist, a healthcare professional, or an entrepreneur, performing work with a sense of purpose elevates it to a higher level of significance.
Martin Luther King once said, “If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.”
God has given us skill; He has given us passions; God has given us work. When we perform our work with excellence, integrity, and diligence, it’s an act of worship. In fact, we are displaying God’s craftmanship to the world around us.
God created each of us uniquely and he has created each of us for work and for worship. So, for me, work is worship.
Written By: David Caston, MSHA, MBA
LinkedIn: David Caston
