Doing Business God’s Wayনমুনা

Our God Loves to Work

Work is not part of the curse. It preceded sin and the fall of man, and Jesus taught that work is eternal. Heaven is no retirement village in the sky; it is where God’s work is done more efficiently because there is no sin. Removing sin from work is like removing sand from the gears of a transmission. Everything runs more smoothly. The promise of a work-free heaven reveals a lack of biblical scholarship and knowledge of God. 

God first reveals Himself in Genesis as a Creator, Worker, and Entrepreneur. The Greek word used for Father’s work in John 5:17, ergazomai, means “to toil…be engaged in or with…minister about.” The earth will pass away and be transformed, but the created cosmos, which encompasses the earth but is greater than the earth, will eternally be tended by Almighty & Family. The working nature of God goes into the next age. In Revelation 21:10–11, we see the church coming down to her earthly abode out of the heavens, with Christ in her center, ruling over and from the earth.

Work is the incarnation of my intangible “soul” out into God’s universe. It allows what is inside of me to be revealed in the outside world. Who do you suppose sees the “real you” most clearly—your pastor, who sees you a few hours a week when you’re on your best behavior, or your boss, who sees you eight hours a day, whether you’re feeling good, bad, or ugly? Suffice it to say, your work reveals your soul. 

Our labor reflects our motives, attitudes, and goals. In fact, economics is much more about people’s souls than the analysis of currency or stock market trends, which measure results more than causes. Ideas have consequences, and spiritual values show up quickly in our labor. Of all the world’s major religions, only Christianity has a theology of labor. Why? Because work is a holy, everlasting calling, and God loves to work. Christians commonly fall prey to the idea that their work in the world is carnal. We must strike a deathblow to the second-class view of work. God loves and honors tradesmen and business professionals just as much as those who earn their living in ministry! 

In His parable of the landowner in Matthew 20:1–16, Jesus illustrates that God hates unemployment. Many of us relate to this passage from the point of view of the laborers and the “injustice” of their equal pay for unequal work. However, this attitude reveals more about our problem with envy than with justice. The heart of the parable is the landowner’s deep agitation over people standing idle in the marketplace. Concern over profit or the fruit of his personal vineyard is never mentioned; rather, his supreme concern is unhired lives—men and women “rotting” in life. 

God hates to see people without a job. The Work-lover sees the tragedy of unused gifts and any system that creates dependency and helplessness instead of providing true aid. Our culture has lost its work ethic—the root of economic productivity. Many people view work as a curse, with getting to the weekend and obtaining material things the goal of their labor. Revival of the biblical work ethic is a key to economic turnaround. Fundamental change will not happen until the church repents and begins to view work as a blessed calling.

Ultimately, the Almighty will get His passion for self-fulfilling labor into His sons and daughters, be it here on earth or in eternity, as surely as He is God.

Thought of the Day: Work is a holy, everlasting calling.