Are you beating up work more than work is beating up you? Our culture increasingly seems to oppose what God intended us to do - work. The never-ending barrage of articles that discuss “work/life” balance generally portray our vocations as intrusions to living a complete and whole life. “If only I didn’t have to work, I could…” is a constant refrain from many. Don’t get me wrong - we easily can be out of alignment with balancing our responsibilities, but the notion that work, even with its challenges, can not be part of a joy-filled life is simply in error. The false pitting of work against life fits nicely into the adversary’s plan to steal, kill, and destroy (John 14:6). When he steals the purpose of work in our lives, the natural result will be emptiness and resentment. Work is not a necessary evil, nor is it a punishment. Often, it’s our perspective, not our work, that needs to change. Here are three reminders of the world of work that prayerfully will lead you to enjoying the vocation to which God has called you.

1) God, before sin entered into the world, intended us to work. 

Sometimes I believe that people want to blame work for what really is a sin issue. Man’s sin fractured everything. Nothing, including our work, was left unscathed. Our relationship with God, others, ourselves, and the creation that God gave us to steward were all negatively affected. Everything became harder due to sin - including our work. However, that doesn’t mean we weren’t made to work any more than sin’s fracture of relationship means that we shouldn’t try to have friends. God intends us to redeem sin’s fractures by living empowered lives in them. Our challenge is to show the difference between how a new creation in Christ Jesus approaches the duty of work and can find joy in it. We were called to work.

2) Different capacities equal different thresholds.

There seems to be a cultural striving for “less is best.” Routinely, I see people attempting to stifle the abilities of others because they don’t have less of the same gift. We need to remember that God has given us different gifts, and varying degrees of ability within them.  Truth be told and potentially a knock to our pride is that there will be others who have a greater threshold of ability that allows them to achieve more. Accepting this truth will keep us from trying to impose our limits on others. Do not say no to someone else because you need to say no to the same thing. Be empathetic when you ask, but do not exclude someone else from an opportunity because you base their answer upon what yours should be. 

3) Laziness can be just as evident in our conduct as in our product.

Growing up my father regularly shared that the hardest part of life is not having someone else to blame. I don’t know if that is an original “Dad-ism” or one he caught from someone else, but I do know that I use that same sentiment at least three times a week. Work is often blamed for bad behavior or stress. While this certainly can be the case, it is not always. Over the years, people have given me a pass for poor behavior because my job is stressful or the hours are long. While both are true and leave me vulnerable, I have found that most of my bad behavior is due to laziness, not workload. It’s easier to be stubborn. It’s easier to not listen well. It’s easier to be short with people. A lazy faith gives a pass when these things emerge. But here’s the thing - God doesn’t. He expects far greater from us because He has equipped us with far greater than us - Himself. Apostle Paul in Galatians speaks to the fruits of the Spirit being evident in our lives (Galatians 6:22-24). The Lord doesn’t suggest the fruit may be evident. Rather, God shares they will be. That tells me that our jobs can’t be used as an excuse for bad behavior. Besides that, Christ also shares that if anything is so much of a problem that it causes us to sin, it is worth leaving (Matthew 18-7-9). Interpretation - if you can’t keep it together at work, maybe it’s time to find a new job that suits your ability so that you don’t lose your Christian testimony in the job you have now.

No one claims work is easy, but no one should say we shouldn’t work. That sentiment may be a cultural outcry, but we don’t serve culture. We serve a King whose word is filled with numerous instances of working as an act of worship. We will have a really difficult time worshiping our King when we constantly find ourselves complaining about the thing He has given us to provide for our families and further our Christian testimony. Challenges from the workplace may be our Heavenly Father’s way of revealing that the real problem is you. Allow Him to uproot what lingers in us from the kingdom we will leave one day, and replace them with the Kingdom behaviors we now represent (Matthew 5:3-12).

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