Alexander C.
Career Pathways
Why Work Is What It Is And Why We Should Care

Note: this paper was somewhat satiric because the class was ..well, interesting to put it mildly.

Work is an every day event that occurs within each person’s life, whether they like it or not. It takes work to breathe, it takes work to move, it takes work to eat, it takes work to sleep, and it even takes work to work! What is working anyways? Why should we work for others? What are the consequences of not working? Does work always have to be hard? Would writing pages upon pages of words into a keyboard using fingers and thoughts, having those pages all due on the week after thanksgiving, and then having to revise and edit all those pages because you might have missed something “crucial” be considered as good work or as pure evil sadism? The Bible is full of references about work and what should be done with it. In fact, there’s actually a whole book that has “Job” written all over it (Job).
Work is not an evil resulting from the fall, rather the labor of work was part of the curse inflicted upon mankind. Work itself came from God; He worked for six days to create the world we now live in (Gen 1), and all the inhabitants thereof. The nature of God was to create, and through that, work is about creating or cultivating something. God created man in His image, and so if He works and continues to work, so should we. Within the work, we are to honor God, as seen with the word “Abad”; we should have jobs that don’t require us to sin, because nothing that Adam did was breaking a commandment. The word “shamar” indicates that we are to take care of things that have been created as well.
Sacred and secular work – is there a difference at all? Work is what it is – work. As long as the work isn’t sinful or causes us to commit sin, it’s just work – it is valued the same to God whether you are a carpenter or a missionary – or both (Like Jesus, kind of). In Genesis 2, God put Adam to work on taking care of the garden – in the same way, God will put us to work in the area which He wills, and is pretty much the area of work with which one is skilled at or best used in (1 Cor 12:4-6).
Work was affected by the fall in that it took labor to produce results. The labor was not easy and enjoyable, but it was necessary to live. Work after the fall was needed to make things grow so that one might have food to eat (Gen 3:17-19). That is, except for Cain, because he killed his brother, so he just wandered around for the rest of his life (Gen 4:12).
The obligation for a Christian to find work is mandatory if they want to live. To get food, one must work, and one must work to get food for their family as well (Prov 12:11). 2 Thessalonians 3:14-15 says that if a person refuses to work, then other believers are not to associate with the person – not to treat them as an enemy, but warn them as a brother.
Within work, you should make sure to take care of your own family (1 Tim 5:8), take care for the poor and weak (Rom 12:13; Gal 2:10), and set a good example to all others (Titus 2:7-8).
The attitude that should characterize the Christian should be full glory given to God, not to be prideful of what one can do by one’s own means (Deut 8:11-14,17-18). A Christian must also do their job the best they can (Col 3:23), even if they do not like doing what they do, or working with whom they work, or working in the environment they work in, or working for the wage that they work for, or working through holidays which they think they should have off (that aren’t Sundays or similar), or working while someone is out to literally kill you, or working to kill someone before they kill you (think “drafted”). They are not to get stressed (Phil 4:6) and should help others without losing focus (Gal 6:1-5). You are also not to complain about your agreed paycheck (Math 20:13).
A Christian is supposed to develop respect for authority (Rom 13:1-8) in their work, do their work wholeheartedly and respectfully (Col 3:22; Eph 6:5-8), and honor their bosses / employers / supervisors / managers / superintendents / administrators / overseers / directors / superiors / controllers / masters whether or not they’re Christian or pagan (1 Tim 6:1-2). The Bible doesn’t really talk about placing Dilbert comics in various workplaces while no one’s looking, though.
The Christian employer needs to make sure workers receive fair compensation (1 Cor 9:7-14), needs to value people highly (Gal 5:14-15), treat and motivate employees with respect rather than threats of certain random layoffs that the company may be performing within the next fifteen seconds (Eph 6:5-9 – goes only to the threat part, FYI), make sure one’s communication is gracious and truthful (Col 4:6), and must help each employee / underling discern the best thing to do in a particular situation (1 Thes 5:14-15). Employers need to set a fair wage to the employees and pay them something for their work (Luke 10:7) (Rom 4:4), even if it’s one or both of your daughters (Gen 29:15-18).
“You should find your greatest fulfillment in your work, or something is wrong.” Something is always wrong, it seems. But God made other things to enjoy in the world for the reason that we are to enjoy them. Work is part of your life, but it isn’t your life (Eccl 2:17).
“Don’t expect to find any fulfillment in work. You must put up with it and look forward to the weekend, your yearly vacation, and your retirement, when you’ll be able to do what you want instead of working.” Again, work is part of your life, but it isn’t your life, and you do need the rest on one of the days (Exodus 23:12). Sure, it’s nice to have a vacation and retire, but you still need to work to eat. Or you can skip the work and go on welfare or die or something (Prov 14:23) (Prov 21:25).
“Blue-collar work is demeaning and beneath your dignity.” Stop complaining and start scrubbing (Col 3:23). If you don’t do it, then someone else would have to do it, and that’s below their dignity because they don’t scrub things well enough. If you complain, you may also incur the wrath of an Egyptian Pharaoh who will make you work harder (Exodus 5). And if you have skill, you won’t really have any blue-collar work, whatever that is anyways (Prov 22:29). In essence, see 1 Corinthians 12:4-6.
“You are what you do. Your identity is found in your work.” If you’re a computer nerd, you are always going to wear thick glasses and talk like you had a nasal cavity swell up. You will also not have a wife and you will not live past thirty because you’ll die in a nuclear reaction meltdown. Your identity comes from work, true, but it also comes from what God made your identity to be, and like said before, work is part of your life, but it is not your life. What is Paul known for? A better question would be, why isn’t Paul known more as a tent-maker more than he’s known as a great teacher of God’s word? (Acts 18:1-3)
“Do the minimum you must to get by. Don’t give any more than you absolutely have to.” True to some extent, but in the other spectrum, don’t be lazy. If you can, do something above and beyond and set a standard for the rest of the workers, work your best (Col 3:23) (Exodus 36:5). Be like Mary (Rom 16:6).
“Work hard when the boss is watching.” Why not work hard when the boss is watching? Would you rather be lazy when the boss is watching and then work hard when he’s not? Kind of hard to get promotions that way, unless you consider working at home without pay a promotion. Point is, work your best at all times (Col 3:23) (Exodus 36:5). Who do you want your brother to be? (Prov 18:9)
“Make any sacrifices you must to get ahead at work.” Sure, go at it, as long as you aren’t committing a sin while doing so (neglecting your family would probably be a sin) (1 Tim 5:8). Then again, don’t think too highly of yourself, but also think of the weak (Acts 20:35).
“Any successes you have at work are solely due to your own drive, ambition, initiative, and tenacity.” Let’s finish that statement, “…and all the other stuff God gave to you for His glory.” Or finish the statement this way: “and your appetite” (Prov 16:26).
What should churches do to stop secular vs. sacred job views? Preach that there aren’t any, one might guess. Making all the church members write a six-page report about the true meaning of work might “work”, too (Job 19:2). The church must definitely need to change its attitude on sacred vs. secular attributes on most things and issues – being a missionary and saving souls is just as important as working as a janitor and cleaning up a fast food restaurant – “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need” (1 Cor 12:4-6). And work hard wherever you are (Col 3:23).
Work is for everybody, it is a part of life. If you don’t like work, then you’re going to die and rot in a grave while the microbes do their work on your body. To live is to work, but to live is to do other things besides work, too, if at all possible. Whatever doesn’t kill you builds character, and it takes work to get character. All people are different, therefore, all work is different to better suit those people. If you hate the work you’re in, look for something else or tough it out, there’s not much else left for you to do. We were made to work, we were made to have fun, we were made to live, and we were made to give full glory to God alone.