This crisis has changed every part of our lives. It’s forced us to examine three important relationships while we are at home. Those three relationships include our relationship with work, people and God. We’ll focus on our relationship with work in this post. We’ll look at the other two in the following weeks.
RELATIONSHIP WITH WORK
Before the fall in Genesis 3, God gives Adam work to do. Work is good. God creates us to create and produce. I love to work. I find joy and satisfaction when I am productive and effective. Americans also love to work too or at least work many hours. According to the International Labor Organization, Americans work 137 hours more per year than Japanese workers. What makes Americans work so hard?
In The Atlantic article, “Workism is Making Americans Miserable,” Derek Thompson coins this term “workism” as the
“belief that work is not only necessary to economic productive but also the centerpiece of one’s identity and life’s purpose; and the belief that any policy to promote human welfare must always encourage more work.”
Perhaps we work so hard because we associate our work with who we are. Our identity becomes tied to what we do. This makes us work more and work harder. We want to feel more valuable and important. But it’s not leaving us more happy or available for what’s important. Many studies show the negative impact that work has on our health, body, and relationships.
This crisis has stopped our world economy. It has changed our relationship with work. For instance, many of us are not working the same location. We are working from home. This is making us more available for work since we are at home and on the clock. This hurts our family and work life balance. On the other spectrum, millions of Americans are losing their jobs. This creates an identity crisis when our value comes from our work. We feel like a failure. We may wrestle with our worth and value since we can’t provide or take care of our family financially. This produces fear and anxiety.
Regardless of our employment situation, we are all impacted. We need to reassess our connection with work. The question we need to answer is “Who are we working for?” This helps us understand why we work so hard and where our identity comes from. Who we work for shapes our relationship with our work. If we work for ourselves then our identity comes from what we produce. Our output defines how we see ourselves inward. When we work for someone else or an organization, we may find our worth from our paycheck or the praise we receive. What our bosses give or say becomes our measure of happiness or pain. Our emotions and feelings fluctuate depending on other’s opinion or salary level. Our motivation for work may be for what we can buy with our paycheck. These things will never satisfy us. Only one will give us purpose.
Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.
Colossians 3:23
God is our ultimate boss. He’s the motivation and purpose for why we work. When we work for God first and foremost, then our worth and value is not tied to a paycheck or a position. It’s not defined by what others think or believe about our work. It comes from God and what he says about you. And he has a lot to say about you.
Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.
Ephesians 1: 4-5
Your Heavenly boss loves you and wants to show you love. He’s motivated because He made you and wants to connect with you. He chose you and gave you the gifts and talents so that you can work and serve God out of love.
Thus if we are working more than ever at home, working for the Lord means that we can won’t let our jobs become our identity. Our mistakes at work won’t crush us. We can set boundaries to rest and relax. We don’t need to feel guilty for choosing our family and kids over work. We don’t need to let difficult co-workers ruin our days. When we work for God then or work becomes worship to God. We are at home more and can do things we could not do in our traditional work place. Here are some suggestions:
- Play worship songs while working
- Schedule times in your work day to pray for your boss, co-workers and family
- Serve and help your co-workers by asking what they need
- Schedule a work (small) group meeting over zoom during your lunch break
What about when we have no job?
When God is our boss and we have no job, we can trust that God will provide. We know that he’s the biggest and greatest employer in the world. He provides all jobs and creates all opportunities. We can trust that God will open doors at the right time.
What are we supposed to while we wait for God to hire us? Matthew 6 is the worry chapter. Jesus reminds us that he feeds the birds and clothes the lilies. He encourages us that he will take care of his children.
Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.
Matthew 6:33-34
We need to trust and seek God. We need to put him first. We need to work for him and trust that he will take care of us. We just need to focus on today. There’s so much to focus on, so take it one day at a time.
This crisis is giving us time to reflect on who we are working for:
- Who are you working for?
- Why are you working so hard?
- What would it look like to work for God in this season?
- What is one thing you would do differently with God as your boss?
If you are working because you are a child of God then you will experience peace and joy. You’ll focus on serving and helping others.
Next week we’ll discuss how this crisis has changed our relationship with people.
Leave a Reply