Finding Fulfillment in WorkSample

Work will be Restored.

God may care about my work today, but it won’t matter in the long-run, will it?

Here is the good news: Christ came not only to redeem the world and our work, but also to one day restore it forever. The final chapter of God’s redemptive story is Restoration, when there will be a New Jerusalem in a New Heaven and New Earth. Christ will return, the earth and heavens will proclaim His glory, and we will live with Him forever.

We yearn for this day to come. Through Christ’s redemption and God’s grace, we glimpse beauty in the world around us and can recognize God’s glory in it. However, the beauty of God reflected in His creation today is just a taste of what is to come. We await the day when all things will be restored.

A New City

In Revelation 21, we learn that the New Jerusalem is a real, physical city, a symbol of human culture. It is the old creation restored, renewed, and rebuilt. God’s material creation of earth will not be lost in Restoration; it will be renewed. The physical world today will not all be lost forever.

Our work on earth has meaning and eternal significance as we help advance the garden in Genesis to the new city in Revelation. The best of the physical world today will carry over into the New Earth and be restored, and so will the best of our work. If our daily work, done for the glory of God and the common good of others, carries into the New Heavens and New Earth in some way, then our present work is overflowing with immeasurable value and eternal significance!

Made in God’s image, we are to create through our work things from the raw material He has given us. We were created to be co-workers with God, to make, build, and shape the world to benefit all of creation. This is why J.R.R. Tolkien, the well-known author of The Lord of the Rings, called man a sub-creator. Tolkien would also state that one of the ways man glorifies God is through the sub-creation of works that echoes the true creations of God. While our work has been redeemed, it awaits the second coming of Christ to be restored. We can enjoy our work while realizing it will never be perfect in this current realm, but that it will carry value into the next realm.

Acknowledging that our work can never be perfect does not give us a pass. God still expects us to work as hard as we can to do the best at whatever He has called us to do.

The hope we find in the gospel applies to our work and helps give us an eternal perspective of significance. God’s design for mankind is a flourishing human culture.

So then, by striving to glorify God in our daily work – whether it be engineering, teaching, art, law, medicine, theology, non-profit, marketing, etc. – we help bring about the global flourishing He has designed for his creation.

All God-honoring work is kingdom work.

How does an eternal perspective change the way you view your work?

Additional Elements

Learn more about how your work is a part of God’s grand story throughout the Bible in this book, How Then Should We Work?