How God Designed Work to Be Good
Have you ever felt like work is a prison? Maybe it's not the building itself, but the endless complaints, the Monday dread, or the sense that what you do doesn't really matter. What if there's a completely different way to think about our work?
Work Takes Up Most of Our Lives, So It Matters
Like Steve Jobs once said, "Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work." We can't escape work. Monday comes every week. You may be thinking about how you're going to finish off that project, what expectations your boss has for you this week, or how you are going to meet budget for the quarter.
But more importantly, let's ask how we think about our work. What's the meaning of it? Why do you do it? And most importantly, how does your faith intersect with your work? How do you think God wants you to relate to your work?
Our work is an opportunity to serve God and others. When we think of work as an opportunity, not an obligation, we can start to reframe how we view what we call the daily grind.
God Is a Working God
When we open the pages of the Bible, right out of the gate we are introduced to a God who works. Genesis 1:1 reads, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." And before you question whether "creating" can be considered work, Genesis 2:2-3 settles it: "By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done."
God worked. And we can also say, God is still working.
Unlike many ancient cultures which viewed work as something bad that should be avoided if possible, here is a God who embodies work, doesn't try to avoid it or outsource it. We have a God who gets his hands dirty, creating humans even from the dust of the earth. And not only does God do work, but God values work. Throughout the creation account, God continually says, "This is good." Then the final refrain in Genesis 1:31: "God saw all that he had made, and it was very good."
We Are Created to Work — It's Part of Who We Are
The climax of God's creation, of course, is human beings. Genesis 1:27-28 says, "So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. 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.'"
God created us in his own image. God blessed us and gave us jobs. Because God is a working God, we too are created to work. This is an important part of how we bear God's image. In our work, we show off God's excellence, God's creativity, we proclaim God's glory to the world.
Work Is Not a Punishment — It's Part of God's Design
We might think when Adam and Eve sinned, didn't God curse the ground and tell them they were going to toil for all the days of their lives? Isn't work a punishment for humanity's sin?
No, that’s not what we see. That happens later in the story, in Genesis chapter three. In Genesis 2:15, as soon as God creates humans, he assigns them work: "The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it." Work didn't come after the fall of humanity. The curse was that work would be difficult. But work itself is part of God's created order.
That's why when we don't have work, we tend to feel a sense of emptiness, like we are not contributing something. If you've ever been unemployed or you are out of work right now, you know this feeling. It is emotionally and psychologically difficult because we as humans are wired to be contributing members of society. God made us to be workers.
We Are God's Gardeners
There is something about work that gives us dignity, but it is also beautiful. In Genesis 2:5-8, God plants a garden, but then places the man he created in that garden to continue what God has already started, to care for it, cultivate it, make it flourish. God has left things undone for us so that we can work to keep them going.
As philosopher Albert Walters writes in his book Creation Regained, "Mankind, as God's representatives on earth, carry on where God left off." We are "called to participate in the ongoing creational work of God, to be God's helper in executing to the end the blueprint for his masterpiece."
God has made us gardeners of his creation. And not only of the physical world we live in, but of people, our neighbors, others in need. This image of being a gardener applies to all kinds of work:
In business, you arrange human resources to produce a product or sell a service, hopefully for the good of others.
In health or helping professions, your job is to keep things from falling apart or put them back together, supporting the thriving of people.
In the arts or education, you create beautiful things to inspire others and pass on knowledge to help people grow and flourish.
When we understand our work as full of dignity and beauty, something we do for the good of others, then there is no hierarchy of jobs that are inherently better or worse than others. We are not validated by the work we do; we are given worth and purpose by God, who created us in his image.
Our Work Is a Part of Our Worship
In Genesis 2:15, the Hebrew word used for "work" is avodah. And yes, it can be translated as “work” but it also means "serve," and remarkably, it also means “worship.“ The same word used for forced labor in Exodus 5, when the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt, is also used in Exodus 35 for the skilled craftsmen building the tabernacle, God's dwelling place. And it's the same word used when Solomon gave instructions to the priests for leading corporate worship in the temple.
This has two-fold implications. Worship is part of the work God has given us to do. But also our work is worship. All of our life, including our careers and our day-to-day labor, should be dedicated to God. When we do the good work that God has given us to do, we are in fact worshipping God through that work.
Putting It Into Practice
There's a simple story about three bricklayers working on the rebuilding of St. Paul's Cathedral in London after it burned in 1666. An architect visiting the site asked each of them, "What are you doing?"
The first said, "I'm a bricklayer. I'm working hard laying bricks to earn money so I can feed my family." The second said, "I'm a builder. I'm building the finest, strongest wall." The third replied with energy and a light in his eye, "I'm a cathedral builder. I'm building a great cathedral, where people can gather together, pray and celebrate the Almighty God!"
So here's the question: What do you think about your work?
Reframe your perspective. Is your job just a prison you clock into every day, working for the weekend? Or can you begin to see it as an opportunity, a calling from God to serve others and reflect his image?
Remember who you're working for. Ephesians 4:28 reminds us that we work "doing something useful with our own hands, that we may have something to share with those in need." Your work isn't just about you.
Find the worship in your work. Whatever your job is, ask yourself: How does this contribute to the flourishing of others? How does this reflect God's character? When you work with that mindset, even the most ordinary task becomes an act of worship.
Our work, whatever it is that God has given us to do, is beautiful, dignified, and as God said in creation, really good.
Reflection
How do you typically think about your work? Is it a prison you endure, a paycheck you earn, or something more? What has shaped that perspective over time?
In what ways does your work, right now, contribute to the flourishing of others? If it's hard to see, why might that be?
The Hebrew word for "work" in Genesis 2:15 is avodah, the same word sometimes used for worship. What would change about how you approach Monday morning if you genuinely believed your work was an act of worship?
Think about the three bricklayers. Which one sounds most like you right now? Which one do you want to sound like?
Application
Here's a simple but powerful challenge for today:
Write down your job, or your primary role, at the top of a piece of paper. It could be accountant, parent, teacher, nurse, manager, student, or volunteer. Then beneath it, answer these two questions in writing:
Who does my work serve?
How does my work reflect the image and character of God?
If the answers come easily, praise God for the clarity. If they're hard to find, don't be discouraged, that's where the real work begins. Ask God to help you see your daily labor the way he sees it: as good, as dignified, and as part of his ongoing work in the world.
Then, this week, do one specific thing to shift from working for a paycheck to working for a purpose. It might mean showing up with more intentionality, serving a coworker you've been overlooking, or simply pausing before you start your day to offer your work to God as an act of worship.
Prayer
God our Creator, thank you for being a God who works. Thank you that you didn't leave creation finished, but invited us into the ongoing work of caring for it. Forgive me for the times I've reduced my work to a burden, a status symbol, or just a means to an end. Help me to see it the way you do, as good, as purposeful, and as an opportunity to reflect your image to the world around me. I offer my work to you today. May it bring you glory. In Jesus' name, Amen
