Monday: The Blessings of Work (Ideally)
Unless you are independently wealthy, or the beneficiary of a trust fund that Mommy and/or Daddy set up for you so that you would never have to work a day in your life (if you read many stories about these kids, the money, meant to be a blessing, often leads to tragedy for them as adults), you will sooner or later need to work for a living. The ideal, of course, is to find something that you are passionate about that can provide you with a good income, get trained in it, find a job doing it, and work at it for your working years. That’s the ideal; of course, it doesn’t always turn out that way.
Read Genesis 2:15 (see also Eccles. 9:10 and 2 Thessalonians 3:8-10). What is the significance of the fact that, even before the entrance of sin, Adam (and certainly Eve, too) was given work? How might this explain why, as stated above, those who never had to work found their situation to be a curse?
Image © Justinen Creative Collection at Goodsalt.com
This work was not a punishment, obviously. It was designed for their good. That is, even in Paradise, even in a world in which no sin, no death, and no suffering existed, God knew that human beings needed to work.
“And to Adam was given the work of caring for the Garden. The Creator knew that Adam could not be happy without employment. The beauty of the Garden delighted him, but this was not enough. He must have labor to call into exercise the wonderful organs of the body. Had happiness consisted in doing nothing, man, in his state of holy innocence, would have been left unemployed. But He who created man knew what would be for his happiness; and no sooner had He created him, than He gave him his appointed work. The promise of future glory, and the decree that man must toil for his daily bread, came from the same throne.” — Ellen G. White, Our High Calling, p. 223.
However, even after the Fall, when (as with everything else) work had been tainted by sin, God said to Adam: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life” (Genesis 3:17, NKJV). Notice, God cursed the ground for “your sake,” for the sake of Adam, with the idea that work would be something that he would need, especially as a fallen being.
| What is it about work that, ideally, should make it something that can be a blessing to us? |
(22)
For a fair bit of my life, I have been teaching tertiary students, giving them the skills necessary for their careers. Most of this has been in a Christian institution of learning where one of the objectives has to prepare people for work in the church. Over my years of lecturing, there has been a substantial shift in our approach because we have accepted more and more students who do not have church work as their objective. Many of them were not Seventh-day Adventists. While most of my teaching was essentially technical in detail, there were always opportunities to talk about the big picture things of life and what it was all about.
There was always the challenge of matching students' expectations with their actual opportunities for work. For example, I can think of one particular student who was studying for the ministry. He came and did a couple of computing courses with me because he liked it. He was enthusiastic about being a minister but he did not really have the passion for it. I told him that if God had called him to be a computer programmer, then he had a higher calling than being a minister. He did try the ministry for a couple of years, failed at it, and became a really effective programmer.
One message I try to get across to all my students is that they never stop being a student. In today's world, very few of us remain in the career we started out in. Sooner or later we have to learn new skills and often change our career paths. Having the flexibility to learn new skills is an important part of life.
For those of us who take Christianity seriously, our work should be a place where we can practise our Christianity graciously. We do not need to get up the noses of our secular friends with proselytizing behaviour and speech, but we can show courtesy, encouragement, tolerance, integrity, and unselfishness in a way that points to the God we serve. That is the Gospel in action in the workplace.
Maurice, this such an important point. All work is ministry if we see it as an opportunity to reflect the truth of God. This may lead to an opportunity to share our beliefs with someone who wouldn’t have had an opportunity to hear the gospel in any other way. That’s why it’s so important to remember our primary job as “ambassadors for Christ“ (2 Corinthians 5:20).
Work can be a blessing to us if we feel like our work has a higher purpose, that we are contributing to something important. It can give us a sense of meaning and fulfilment. In saying that, there needs to be a healthy balance so we are able to pursue interests and relationships outside of work.
This statement by sister White in Desire of Ages pg. 74 has always been a great encouragement to me:
Much of our lives are spent doing common seemingly unimportant tasks. It is encouraging to know we can be doing God’s service when doing the dishes or taking out the trash.
The Apostle Paul worked as a "Tent Maker" and did not get paid for "Church Work" at all. Jesus worked as a "Carpenter," for about 90 percent of His Life. Most of the 12 Apostles were fishermen until Jesus called them to work for the Church as Preachers and Teachers and Evangelists etc. and etc. Adam and Eve were Gardeners. I love the phrase, "All work is honorable" but only if it is honest and legal and moral.
Pete, I do believe our SDA organization is second to none. We have a system where the pastors and other workers get paid fairly and retire with a retirement fund. You have to remember that the early Christians were a small group. We are millions in number, worldwide, and function much more efficiently than the circuit-riding preachers of old.
I see engaging in ‘work’ as the natural activity of any living creature in order to sustain itself. No creature or any living thing can exist without being part of some type of exchange which promotes its viability; we just call it ‘work’.
I challenge anyone to find one thing in existence, matter or energy, that does not interact with something else and so maintains the function in and purpose for its existence. I am certain that the celestial hosts are also engaged in some type of ‘work’ to maintain the purpose for their existence.
I see the main cause of problems in life arising from man’s dependency on others to provide opportunities to work and so depend on them to pay fair wages for the work done. And there is ‘where the rubber meets the road’, so to speak. We end up being caught in the dynamic of exchanging work for pay in order to consume to live, but are not necessarily kindly enclined to 'work' for/with each other.
How we arrange this 'dependency on exchange of opportunity and work' in order to keep our lives free from unwanted ‘obligations’, (which could enslave either one in order to maintain his life), is up to the individual. I see ‘working in Paradise’ as the most satisfying work man could ever have wanted to do. 🙂
In our world, the most satisfying type of ‘work’ might be when choosing to be ‘self-employed’. In our family’s case, when deciding to add on to our home to accommodate visiting family members, this space ended up being operating as a B&B. Started in ’91, it is still in operation. We chose not to borrow money because we did not want to pay it back with interest, prefering to build as we were able to pay. It took two years of not spending income on anything else and doing some of the work ourselves.
As a stay-at-home mom who loves to work ‘at home’, this is the best 'career' I could have ever hoped for. Not everything in life needs to be planned out ahead of time. When keeping an eye out for opportunities to apply one’s talents and aspirations, this will go a long way towards one’s ‘happiness’. When building the foundation of one’s life on God’s Word, anything is possible.
I appreciate your opinion on the following statement you made Brigitte, and would like to share my thoughts -
This statement could be true in some cases, I agree, but it’s also helpful to consider that fair wages can certainly be a source of problems for some people. There are many other factors that can contribute to struggles in life, such as health, education, family circumstances, social inequality...etc
The Bible verses below reflect a concern for the well-being of all individuals, particularly those who may be vulnerable or marginalised. They speak to the importance of ensuring that workers are treated with dignity and respect.
Hello Brigitte,
As I was reading your post, it occurred to me that the Christian employer has the duty to provide her employees with a work environment and the work skills needed to honour and glorify God. The primary purpose of a Christian business is not money making, but to serve a need or needs in the community in which it functions. This requires a singular focus on a vision and mission for that community, as had Christ when he practiced his trade as a builder in his community. Personal relationships with customers and other businesses are in this context very important to the vision and mission of the Christian’s business in accomplishing God's will.
Thank you for your insightful post.
Richard
On a light note, today's lesson reminds me of a birthday card I bought my father a few years ago. On the front it said, "For your birthday I wanted to buy you a very expensive present," then on the inside it said, "But I thought you would appreciate it more if you earned your own money and bought it yourself." My dad appreciated the irony and humor.
I used to tutor students in maths - not my own of course - but others outside my teaching responsibility. I found out very early in the piece that the students who did not pay for their tutoring sessions did not seem to make as much progress as the ones who paid for it. I hit on this scheme that the students had to pay a pretty hefty sum for their tuition sessions and had to hand over the money themselves. That fixed the problem.
Maurice, that is also why some churches charge for people to attend their evangelism seminars, or at least for the materials. People will appreciate and attend if they paid for it.
I'll have to ask my brother and sister-in-law if they charged for a weight loss program in their SDA church recently. They did tell me that the attendance was greater than the evangelistic series they helped with. Goes back to what we believe, that health programs are the arm of the church. Fact of the matter, health programs are a wedge at home and abroad.