*Training yourself to be godly may include how you view your work.
The average person spends 90,000 hours (that’s around 10 years) over the course of their lifetime working.[i]
A 2023 survey of Canadians suggested 80% of workers were satisfied with their jobs. At the same time, another survey indicated 33% of workers plan to look for a new job next year. .
60% of workers feel burned out.[ii] 77% of workers reported experiencing work-related stress.[iii]
One statistic stated: Only about a quarter of employees worldwide are actively engaged in their work.[iv] Though many seem to find enjoyment in their work, it’s not uncommon to hear people saying they are “Working for the weekend” – or “Thank God it’s Friday”.
Even some of our jokes are funny because we generally live in a society that doesn’t like work.
My boss told me to have a good day, so I left and went to the beach.
My boss told me I’d missed too much work lately. I told him I hadn’t missed it much.
We often think of work as fulfilling duties regularly for wages or a salary. It’s about making money. Yet there is more to it. Work is also exerting strength or energy to do or perform something; it involves being creative, using skill, and producing something.
Work shows up very early in our Bible.
Often, the first thought about work is that it’s a result of the Fall, or a result of humanity’s sin and God’s judgment. Genesis 3:17-19 gives God’s judgment on Adam: “the ground is cursed because of you.” We see life becoming more difficult as a result of sin.
But this does not say that work is a result of the Fall. The judgment is not work. The judgment is difficult and sweaty work!
While we tend to think of work as a result of sin, it is actually part of the world before sin. God tells Adam in Genesis 2:15 that he has a role to play in this garden God made for him. He is to “Work it and take care of it” (NIV).
Even before that, in Genesis 1: 28 God gave the people he created a role to play in creation: “Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.’”
Work is not a result of sin but was the first responsibility and role for humans! Along with being fruitful and multiplying, people were to govern and reign. Work is part of that governing and reigning, doing what is good for the world around us.
Work is about contributing to the good of our world. We all need something meaningful to do with our lives. We all have ways of contributing to the good of our world – to “work” in some way.
God has blessed us all with various gifts and passions and skills. Many of us have learned other skills through formal education or experience. We have gained ways of working and contributing to the “governing and reigning,” the “ruling” over the world that God created humans to do.
Hopefully, you have a job that you are created for, that fits, that feels like you are being who God created you to be! If not, ask Him to guide you to where you fit better.
As we think of Spiritual Disciplines and Practices associated with work, there are a few that we will look at in the next blog, but here’s one: The Discipline of Serving.
Mark 10:45 says: “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
The Discipline of Serving says, “I will choose to use whatever abilities and skills I have to work for the betterment of others, serving them. Not working for my own benefit alone, but also for theirs!”
We are created to work and have the opportunity to serve others in the process.
Keep looking up,
Andy Wiebe
[i] https://www.worldofwork.ca/by-the-number
[ii] Calm’s Voice of the Workplace Report
[iii] APA’s Work in America Survey
Elevate with Andy 