Of work, career and vocation
What does work mean for us? Some of us view work as solely a vehicle to financial security of paying the mortgage and providing for the family. Some of us are attracted by the prospect of prosperity, thus do not mind clocking up incredible amount of hours. Some of us do actually enjoy the work we are doing. And for most of us, work is an identity that we associate ourselves with.
While each of these cases is valid, they are by no means wholesome by their own accounts. Working simply for the sake of paying the bills reduces work to a meaningless and mundane routine that extracts life out of it. We are guilty of idolatry if we were to work just for the sake of fame and riches. To build our identity around our profession will be futile, as economic environment is non-permanent, dynamic and volatile, rendering jobs obsolete while creating new ones at much faster rates.
Genesis 1 describes the nature of God as a worker when He created the world. Jesus Himself was a carpenter prior to His mnistry. The Bible is full of characters, with much diversity in the professions they undertook. Joseph was a butler, who would later become the prime minister of Egypt. David was a shepherd boy. Daniel worked with the Babylonian government. Tent making was Paul's business.
There is a peculiar perception among some Christians that work is a result from sin. When God designed us, He made us co-workers alongside with Him. Adam and Eve were to tend the Garden of Eden. God ordained work before sin. The institution of work in the Kingdom of God never changed from the original design that God had in mind. However, sin does render work more difficult.
While some of us may argue that a mundane job task, oblivious bosses and difficult colleagues are among the reasons that poses a difficult obstruction to us obtaining the ideal biblical worldview that we should adopt in our work. Here is a thought : 60-70% of our time is spend at work. That is a big chunk out of the time pie. If we lack grounding of our identity in Christ thus losing the purpose of the work we do, 60-70% of our lives go to waste. Most definitely not a very efficient use of resource we have in this one lifetime, and certainly not exhibiting good stewardship.
The key to any breakthrough is that the battle must be first won in the mind. Paul understood this almost too well in his letter to the Roman church : Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - His good, pleasing and perfect will.
At the end of the day, when we stand before God at His throne of grace, He will ask: What is your worldview of work? Are you adopting My principles in your perceptions and attitude towards work? Perhaps, it is a good time to do a reality check on the mindset that we are adopting. A major overhaul of the ideas and perceptions that lies in between our ears is necessary if it is not streamlined with the Bible.
The Bible is a blueprint that contains timeless principles for us in this one lifetime we have. Our work is to be sown with faith, hope and love, with love as the hallmark of creed. The greatest commandment is to love the Lord with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind. Knowing that we ultimately serve the Boss in heaven, we ought to put in quality work for our employers, as we would for Jesus.
The Bible commands us to love our neighbours as we love ourselves. As we progressively move Christward in our mindset and behaviour, we build within ourselves a reservoir of grace that overflows into the circle of influence around us. We are the demonstration of God's love to the people in the marketplace.
Work, in itself, should be pursued with the intended outcome of the highest quality and productivity. The vocation we pursue is also an extension of our evangelistic role in the Kingdom of God. As salt and light of the world, our lifestyle is to be a demonstration of the character of Jesus, reflective of His passion. The basic of hitting the sweet spot of this concept at is to have a workstyle that underpins an unwavering integrity that is grounded in the work of God. The workplace is the most strategic arena for Christian thinking and influence today. As Doug Sherman puts it : our greatest need in the workplace right now is for Christians whose lifestyle and workstyle are so unique and so distinctive that coworkers will want to know why.
Once this strategic thinking is established and engrained within our souls, the next thing is to operationalize our faith in work. These are some of the practical, and a-day-in-a-life things that we can do as Christians.
Task praying. Living through a job day-to-day can be tough on the sole. We are pressed with immediate bottomline pressures. We could all relate to the time where we needed to meet that elusive sales target, prepare for a big meeting with the board of directors, dealing with difficult colleagues and the list goes on. Such everyday occurrences could blur our thinking of the big picture we have about our work, thus reducing our overall effectiveness. It could be as simple as "Lord, there is a big presentation coming up. I need help with ideas and MS Powerpoint competency." By task praying, we are acknowledging that God is in control and that He is there to help us. It is also effecting His presence to work through us. Task praying is very specific to a task being undertaken.
Bringing Jesus to the workplace. There is nothing more comforting to know that someone close to our heart who understands is with us at the difficult points in our everyday lives. When God is present at your workplace, our whole perspective towards the circumstances around us would change dramatically. Look at how Peter could walk on water when he focused on Jesus.
Stewardship and consecrated financial planning. A person who earns RM10,000 per month, but constantly defaults his/her credit limit is worse off than a person who earns RM3,000 per month with clean credit records and spends way below his means. True that a person is entitled to enjoy the wages he earns (Ecc. 5:18-19), but whatever we do needs to be as glory to God. We ought to give our first fruits to the Kingdom of God as, firstly an obedience to His word, and secondly, to help the needy in His Kingdom. Basic and common-sense practices like saving, investing, not over gearing on consumer debts etc. should be the underpinning principles when it comes to managing our personal finance. Unfortunately, in a consumer-driven mindset environment we live in today, such common sense may not be too common after all.
As the saying goes, money is not everything. And so is the word stewardship should not be completely associated with the greenback. We live in a finite world of resource and time. In demonstration of good stewardship before the Lord, our time, energy and resource should also be channeled to the greater good in the Kingdom of God.
At times, operationalizing faith in our daily life could seem harder in the face of temptation. We are most vulnerable when we are hungry, angry, lonely or tired. All the black-and-whites in the Bible seem far-fetched and descends into shades-of-gray. Suddenly, everything we believe for appears to be so translucent. The moment of temptation is so overwhelming; the idea so irresistible, our twisted logic becomes so justifiable. But our response to temptation will make us of break us. We may think indulging in a little does no harm. Our fall from grace starts by giving the evil one a foothold, which eventually develops into a stronghold.
In one of his Sunday sermons, Nicky Gumbel gave practical to-do-list on how to defeat temptation :
1. Focus on Jesus - that takes the focus away from the devil and ourselves.
2. Keep short accounts with God - confess, seek forgiveness and repent immediately of every small trespasses that we may have everyday.
3. Trust God in difficult situations
4. Win the battle in the mind - changing of mindsets aligned to the Word of God.
5. Soak the mind with the Word of God - Notice how Jesus responded to temptation by beginning each of His responses with "It is written...".
In this journey of one lifetime of ours, we are walking through it side-by-side with the people of God. We are here together to encourage and uplift one another when times are tough for us. The fellowship we have among the people of God can provide a powerful base retreat for edification, rejuvenation and revival of our human spirit so that we can take on the world again. This concept cannot be undermined, thus the reason why the Bible places important emphasis on fellowship among his people.
Like how Lego is a new toy everyday, the gift of work is a wholesome learning experience if we are open to God's voice and sensitive to His Spirit. As we go about spinning our wheels in this world, work is a channel God uses to shape, mould and refine our character, slowly but surely transforming us into the image of Christ. Ultimately, we are the showcase to the world of what Christ in us means: an individual who is a highly motivated worker, improvement-striver, impeccable leader, champion of creeds and a humble servant of God.
A New Identity in Christ
For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
~ Ephesians 5:17 ~
By accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, we are marked with a new identity before the Father in heaven. It is an explicit rendition that :
There is assurance for the forgiveness of our sins, and we are set free from the strongholds of life prior to Christ.
We stop living for ourselves and start living for God.
We have the privilege to be called sons and daughters of God.
We are given the Holy Spirit, who is our helper and counselor, during this lifetime on earth.
We have an eternal home with the Father in heaven that we could look forward to.
As a new creation in Christ, we have access to the glory of God. Moving progressively into His presence, a life-changing transformation begins within us. The secrets to an abundant life unlocks as we draw closer to Christ.
God forms us. Sin deforms us. Christ transforms us. From the moment we believe, we have an eternal identity in Christ. No longer are we victims of circumstances in this fallen world. We can capitalize on the challenges and emerge a victor together with Christ. It is the Christ in us, which gives the hope of glory.
