Redeeming Work

According to a pre-pandemic Gallup poll, most adult Americans would spend most of their waking hours in the workplace before they reach retirement age. Covid motivated many people to work from home, but gradually we are returning to the workplace norm. If we are to spend so much time in the workplace, the logical question is, “How can the Christian redeem that time?” The first way is to work like God.

God is a worker. We see that literally from the beginning of creation. Genesis chapter one uses various verbs to describe a working God: creating, making, naming, to mention a few. Genesis 2:2 formalizes the concept of God as a worker where we read, “2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work” [NIV]. God worked, and then God rested from his work. These two actions would serve as a template for us who are human. We work (“The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it” [Gen. 2:15 NIV]), and we rest. All of this occurred before the Fall (Genesis 3.)

What are we to make of this? We recognize that work is good. Not only did God command us to work, but when we do so, we can find satisfaction in knowing that we are imitating God.

Where are you working now? Find meaning in that job, if for no other reason than knowing that the task allows you to be like God.