As I was heading out the door, children grumbling about school, stumbling into their mother's car, my computer case bashing into the side of my car as I fell in, I heard my wife say, "Hope you have a busy day today!" I know it was intended as "a productive and fruitful day," but I pondered that all of the way to the office. Hmmm...a busy day...is that anything to wish upon a person? I think people in our culture often equate busyness with productivity and productivity with value. In other words, you are a more valuable person to our society the more you produce. So, whether we are being productive or we have passed the point of diminishing returns, we'd better look busy so that we can feel important and valuable. "Quick, look busy, the boss is coming!" What we miss in this equation is the conversation about what constitutes quality work, good work, work that makes a life-giving, life-sustaining difference for people, creatures, and the environment we live in, work that allows you to sit down for dinner, give a great sigh of satsifaction, and know that what you did was good!
Genesis records that God's favorite thing to do after his work of creation was to stop and say, "It is good!" It's as though God pulls his chair back from some great banquet, satisfied and pleased. Work, for God, is creative, life-giving, and downright joyful! And since we are made in the image of God, we too are called to work creatively in ways that promote good life and that give us joy. So what happened?
The minute Adam and Eve messed up God's order of creation, even work began to be a joyless drudgery. "Cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground...(Genesis 3: 17b-19a)." Human sin has even messed up our work, go figure!
Since Jesus came to restore us to the fullest quality of life God originally intended, it makes sense that his followers, by grace, begin to do work and experience work differently. We look for ways that our work sustains or restores good life to people and the creation we live in. We work hard, with passion, creativity, and love. We work as an act of worship.
Now look, you'll find me mumbling and complaining about my job some days too. I, like you, work in a damaged world with a mixture of wonderful and broken people who struggle with greed, addictions, hopelessness, and downright meanness, but I ask Jesus to give me eyes to see ways in which my work works with his work of salvation, restoring wholeness, peace, love, and joy to his creation.
How do you find satisfaction and joy in your work?
If you don't what can you do differently that may help you find it?
I'd enjoy hearing from you. Check out the messages at my church in Sanford, Florida, watch the video series, or check out more on facebook.
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