What Is My Mission?Uzorak

Man’s First Calling

If we have a mission from God and we are made to live in community and to create, how do we find purpose in work as a barista, an electrician, an actor, a copywriter, or a construction worker? By understanding God’s purpose.

In the opening chapter of Genesis, God describes the purpose for which he created man: Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

In the next verse, he relates this mission statement to Adam and Eve: God blessed them and said to them, be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.

This passage, called the cultural mandate, calls all Christians to partner with God in his work. The cultural mandate calls us to fill the earth with God’s images and subdue it. It’s a mandate to create culture and civilization through families, cities, organizations, agriculture, art, beauty, and technology. In this call we are to seek progress and further develop, invent, and advance culture.

The significance of all of our work – in our jobs, homes, communities, and churches – is directly related to its connection with God’s work. It is by seeking this progress and advancement in the world through our work that we find fulfillment. Humans are made to create and work to God’s glory. In pursuing God’s purpose, we find fulfillment.

The Garden of Eden was God’s perfect design, but it was not finished. Adam and Eve would not have stayed there forever, even if they had never fallen into sin. Following the commands of the cultural mandate, they would have moved out into the world, filling it with God’s images and subduing it. The Hebrew word translated “subdue” in verse 28 (Hebrew kabash) literally means to make the earth useful for human beings’ benefit and enjoyment.

The idea behind the cultural mandate is that God entrusts us with something and expects us to do something worthwhile with it, something he finds valuable. This mandate implies an expectation of human achievement.

This calling is what you were made to do. It is where you can find purpose and fulfillment.

God gave Adam work before the Fall. How does this affect the way you view work?

Additional Elements

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