Christian Work Ethic

What jobs do you see as below yourself? Maybe you see yourself as too educated, sophisticated, or skilled to lower your way of making an income? On the flip side, what occupation do you view as bringing more fulfillment, and maybe a greater level of respect from your friends and community?

To be clear when I say job and occupation I do not have two separate concepts in mind. It is the general idea of vocation. A synonym for vocation can be occupation because it is what occupies a great deal of your time (parenting or home keeping, a 9-5 job, studying at university, volunteer with a non-profit, etc). This post will be more geared toward what a man or a woman does (i.e. 9-5 job or home keeping). And in that we will be thinking about how we view such things, with either contentment or covetousness, discontentment or gratitude.

In this we will be searching our hearts to examine if we have a biblical view of vocation? Is our thought about jobs, both in general and our own, processed through the lens of scripture or culture?

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Can I Be Proud of My Occupation?

When we consider if we have a Christian view of work, we must consider why we think one occupation honorable and another less then? Do we believe that work in general, as described above, is honorable according to a biblical worldview or it is an honorable occupation in the culture’s perspective.

Our culture tends toward one of two ways of honoring occupation:

1. If you have an occupation that is an outflow from higher education, what we generally call “white-collar” careers. Such persons in general have continued formal education above and beyond high-school in a particular vein of study, and then later found a career path that aligns with it (i.e. doctors, lawyers, executives, professors, etc).
2. If you’ve made it on your own and have been successful, made a lot of money and are living out the high life by what you have made of yourself (i.e. entrepreneurs, inventors, artists, authors).

To those things, we naturally in our culture, give honor. However,

• …if you are working for somebody
• …if you are doing a 9-to-5 job
• …if you are not your own boss

…you are not held in such honor in society.

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A Biblical View…in Brief

God made man to work. It is bound up in his design and purpose for us. See our first father Adam from the beginning (Gen. 2).

A part of paradise and happiness with God is found in service to God through our vocation, what we occupy our time with. An aspect of seeing work biblically is to understand it as executing our various vocational tasks for the pleasure of God; God being pleased as his purpose and design flourish.

In a biblical worldview honor is not based on what you do but how you do it. I could list off pages of jobs and careers that should be whole heartedly pursued. However, for the sake of brevity, if a job is not causing you to practice what is ungodly, and is not a weight on your conscience, pursue it as a means of serving God in the world he has set up.

In the New Testament we hear some detailed instruction about our motive and mentality in engaging an occupation:

Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.

Ephesians 4:28

…aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you…

1 Thessalonians 4:11

What I find interesting is that we often slant manual labor as less than honorable while Paul encourages it. But also we see that it is to be done honestly. The Christian cannot gage whether or not an occupation is worthy of respect based on what is done. This is where we need to begin reevaluating our value systems when it comes to how we think about jobs. It is not what is done but how and why it is done.

Can you do the job in like manner to Adam in the Garden of Eden, to serve your maker? Can you engage it with not only a clean conscience but also a conviction that you can please God by working hard and honestly?

Christianity is in great need of revisiting how we think about jobs, labor, and career pursuits.

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A Few Closing Considerations

A Christian, who has an occupation that is naturally honored by society, must search their own heart to see if they are in fact, they honor their own vocation because of the culture says or what the Bible says. It is needed to avoid arrogance and a false security regarding the reason ones job is important.

At the same time, the man or woman who is in a line of work that is not as honored if honored at all in society, must also be careful to regularly be informed by scripture regarding work. Scripture must be the loud and consistent voice or otherwise there will be discouragement connected to a feeling or lack of significance.