Why Work?

My college graduation was coming up and I was wondering what to do with my summer. Some friends had mentioned a leadership program in Tennessee selling Bible books door-to-door.

Did someone say, Bible books? No problem. Sign me up.

So, a group of us from Moody piled into cars and drove to Franklin, Tennessee for two weeks of training. Then we were assigned to cities around the country.

My assignment was Long Beach, California.

We were instructed to spend no more than one dollar a day. No problem. I was dropped off at a phone booth and began calling churches while throwing up a few quick prayers. Since I would be working 75 hours a week, all I needed was a bed and water.

Wahoo! God provided.  

The pastor of a Baptist church picked me up and dropped me off at the home of a widow who was happy to have some company for the summer.

Next, I needed a map of the city, a church directory and transportation.

Did I mention that I had no car? No problem. I would begin by walking to nearby homes and look for a family that would be interested in trading a free set of Bible books for the use of a bicycle.

Again, God provided.

I am laughing as I write this. It was a crazy summer!! I was dropped off in a city I had never been to before, lived on a dollar a day, spent the summer on a banana seat bicycle and earned the Gold Award for working 75 hours per week. Looking back, I can’t believe my mother let me go. Ha!!!!

It was one of many work experiences that helped to shape me.

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately about “work.” Not only about what we learn through our work, but why we work. It is so easy to see work as a means to an end. We work to make money to pay bills or give to missions. We work for self-fulfillment and/or self-actualization. We may even work so we can eventually retire and do what we really want to do. Some may even see their work as a mission field. They take opportunity to share the gospel and may even leave a Bible on their desk.

All of the above reasons may be good and true, but I think there is more to it.

Rather than seeing our work as a means to an end, maybe we should look more closely at the work we are actually doing. The Hebrew word “avodah” is translated work or worship in the English Bible. Our work is the means by which we serve God and one another. It is how we contribute to human flourishing and the common good. In other words, the work we do itself is important!!

God cares about the products we make, the companies we work for, and the customers we serve.

As image-bearers of the Creator who worked for six days and rested on the seventh; we, too, are created to work. God placed Adam and Eve in a garden that He had prepared, but the rest of the world had yet to be cultivated.

This was man’s job, to be fruitful and multiply…to fill the earth and cultivate it. To care for His creation, and to love and care for one another.

How has He sought to do this?

By giving us gifts and talents, so we can do for one another what He wants to do for us and through us!!

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:10

“…who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself people for His own possession, zealous for good works.” Titus 2:14

“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.” Hebrews 10:24

Something to ponder the next time I do the dishes, make that phone call or help with the grands