WHAT’S A JOB FOR
Aside from the fact that we should strive for excellence in all things, and that all work can be made into service to God’s purposes, what’s a job for? If you have a job that isn’t an overtly Christian one (i.e. employed by a church or Christian organization), you can make three cases, all of which I believe can be equally important for the kingdom of God.
First, your job can be a means to making money to support yourself, your family, and those in need. I used to pooh-pooh this reason, as did many others, because it seemed like such a cop-out, inferior to direct service and often used as a justification for enjoying a standard of living incongruent with that of most of the world. But I have come to realize that that pooh-poohing is itself a form of arrogance and worldliness; the Bible is clear about not making differentiations like this to puff yourself up. I have also come to realize that pursuing a job in order to make money in order to be generous is quite Biblical; you get the sense in Paul’s writings that a major part of his job was to redirect funds from those who had them to those who needed them, and that to have was not cause for guilt but opportunity to give. In fact, if you have a marketable skill and you don’t use it to make money, that’s a waste. Not to say that Jesus doesn’t call us to give up things, like the fishermen who dropped their nets to follow Him. But be careful when you walk away from a lucrative career that you are qualified and positioned to take; ask yourself if it is a decision grounded in faith, or if it is fear of having a lucrative career, dealing with its pressures, and/or being scorned by other Christians.
Second, your workplace can be your mission field. When God moved in powerful ways in the 1st century as it relates to world evangelization, He almost never sent people to far-flung places but rather to their own communities. I don’t think it’s a stretch to make a parallel case that if you are an accountant and you become a Christian, your natural “community” to bring Jesus Christ home to is an accounting firm; if a construction worker, than to the construction site.
Third, your work can be edifying to the purposes of the kingdom of God. Ultimately, if you make money to give it away and evangelize people while on the job, but the fruits of your labor are neutral or, even worse, negative to the ways of God, then what’s the point of expending all that time and energy? Every profession can be redeemed for God’s purposes, but some are more useful than others. Careers in non-profit are obvious ways to live out Kingdom values, but businesspeople and lawyers and teachers and doctors have useful skills and can contribute useful services.
So what’s a job for? The same as what’s life for: to enjoy God and to glorify Him forever.
Aside from the fact that we should strive for excellence in all things, and that all work can be made into service to God’s purposes, what’s a job for? If you have a job that isn’t an overtly Christian one (i.e. employed by a church or Christian organization), you can make three cases, all of which I believe can be equally important for the kingdom of God.
First, your job can be a means to making money to support yourself, your family, and those in need. I used to pooh-pooh this reason, as did many others, because it seemed like such a cop-out, inferior to direct service and often used as a justification for enjoying a standard of living incongruent with that of most of the world. But I have come to realize that that pooh-poohing is itself a form of arrogance and worldliness; the Bible is clear about not making differentiations like this to puff yourself up. I have also come to realize that pursuing a job in order to make money in order to be generous is quite Biblical; you get the sense in Paul’s writings that a major part of his job was to redirect funds from those who had them to those who needed them, and that to have was not cause for guilt but opportunity to give. In fact, if you have a marketable skill and you don’t use it to make money, that’s a waste. Not to say that Jesus doesn’t call us to give up things, like the fishermen who dropped their nets to follow Him. But be careful when you walk away from a lucrative career that you are qualified and positioned to take; ask yourself if it is a decision grounded in faith, or if it is fear of having a lucrative career, dealing with its pressures, and/or being scorned by other Christians.
Second, your workplace can be your mission field. When God moved in powerful ways in the 1st century as it relates to world evangelization, He almost never sent people to far-flung places but rather to their own communities. I don’t think it’s a stretch to make a parallel case that if you are an accountant and you become a Christian, your natural “community” to bring Jesus Christ home to is an accounting firm; if a construction worker, than to the construction site.
Third, your work can be edifying to the purposes of the kingdom of God. Ultimately, if you make money to give it away and evangelize people while on the job, but the fruits of your labor are neutral or, even worse, negative to the ways of God, then what’s the point of expending all that time and energy? Every profession can be redeemed for God’s purposes, but some are more useful than others. Careers in non-profit are obvious ways to live out Kingdom values, but businesspeople and lawyers and teachers and doctors have useful skills and can contribute useful services.
So what’s a job for? The same as what’s life for: to enjoy God and to glorify Him forever.
Comments