My thinking on this issue is quite immature and my ideas are not yet fully formed, so I would really appreciate comments from people telling me what you think.
- I think that what you do matters. Some careers have the opportunity to honour God, some don't. We must choose one that does.
- Why you do it matters. I'm a teacher, so it's easy for me to be self justified about what I do. I teach kids in a Christian school and try to incorporate Christianity into what I do however I can. But why I do it is as important as what I do. I recently got a promotion at my school. I get paid more, get more time off of class and have some extra authority. If any or all of those things are the reason I do it then it's all for nought. I didn't get into my career for the right reasons, but I intend to stay in it for the right reasons so that I might honour my God in my work.
- Who you work for matters. If you work for a corporation, business or group that is in the business of hurting people then you are a party to their corruption, greed or whatever. Some companies are just plain evil and if you help them to do what thy do, no matter how trivial, then that brings no honour to Christ. If you're not sure about your company then find out. The old adage that we need Christians in all types of careers and workplaces seems pretty weak to me. We need Christians to do work that honours Christ. Period. Secular vocation can do that, but we need to be careful.
- Money is only moderately important. It's so tempting to seek out the best paying job we can get. We need to be able to make enough money to support ourselves and our families. Beyond that, the money, really, should be largely irrelevant. I struggle with this idea because money is so tempting. But if we really believe that our treasure is in heaven then we will see it this way.
Take accounting, for example. It seems to me that lots of accounting work is really seeking to help greedy people have more. That's not ok. There are also lots of accounting jobs that help manage money for great groups and causes. They usually pay less and are not at all glamorous. But you can make a living off of them.
If you work in a job that pays pretty well but takes up loads of time so that you have little or no time to pursue ministries then who are you serving? It's no good having all these skills to make money for a company and yourself if you spend little time actually following Jesus and looking out for and loving others.
Jobs are a great opportunity for us to meet people to love and tell about Jesus and a great place to learn skills to serve our world. I think, though, that we should be careful with what we do, why we do it and who we do it for.
What do you think?
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Hi Graham, I think along the same lines as you do Graham. One of the issues that is really important to me is employment for the disadvantaged, disabled, those that struggle with mental illness, those that struggle with literacy etc. I had a client the other day who has recently lost a job she loved and worked in for over 10 years (as a bus driver), her literacy is very poor (around 7 year old reading level), when her superior found out she was dyslexic he started to harass her and made work very stressful for her. I believe that one of the important aspects of "work" is the positive effect it has on us emotionally (self-esteem etc). Work is a blessing:
ReplyDeleteProverbs 12:11
Those who work their land will have abundant food, but those who chase fantasies have no sense.
Proverbs 12:14
From the fruit of their lips people are filled with good things, and the work of their hands brings them reward.
Proverbs 14:23
All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.
I think sometimes we are so concerned with being unselfish and unself-focussed that we forget that God has designed good things to be a blessing for us, because He loves us as a dear father who wants His children to do well and be well. So I guess I'm saying that I think job satisfaction is important! Do you agree?
Thanks for your comment, Jenny. I think that job satisfaction is somewhat important, but I think it's secondary. I think that with a decent job and a good employer and colleagues that a job well done will usually give some degree of satisfaction.
DeleteI also think, though, that if we are really seeking to serve God in our work and regularly reflecting on whether or not we are doing it and how we can do it better then we will find more satisfaction in serving our God through our work no matter how we feel about the actual task. I hate some aspects of my wrk, but I think it's important, so my job satisfaction is pretty high, I think, just maybe not in the conventional way.