The Good Work We Do

“We were built for work and the dignity it gives us as human beings, regardless of its status or pay.”  So says Tim Kellor, pastor of New York’s Redeemer Presbyterian Church in his 2012 book Every Good Endeavor.  I agree with Tim.  Every semester, I meet young men and women who are seeking to determine their direction for a future career.  It’s a proposition fraught with challenges and issues…not the least of which is that so many see work as a necessary evil rather than something given to us for dignity.

 

A few years ago, I emphasized the following verse with my then-church Numinous.  In Paul’s letter to the city of Colasse in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey), he writes “Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.”  In this Paul is getting down into core motivation for why we work.  It is far more than doing it for money or for perhaps power or glory.

 

In fact, it is that triumvirate of bad goals that has undermined much of our view of work.  Most of us do NOT have money, let alone power or glory.  And, seemingly, everyone I meet who does gain one of those three goals, they don’t actually see that they have it.  Instead, there is this endless longing to “make it”…even though that person actually has.

 

When we work with a poor motivation, then typically we don’t give our best.  And bitterness or disenchantment soon follows.  One time in my class, during one of my “ask Professor Creasman any question” moments where students can write down an anonymous question, I was asked “why do we work for so little money.” To me, at the core of this question was a slightly perturbed feeling of doing work without getting a proper pay that matched the questioner’s own estimation of themselves.  I get that—we want to be paid what we think we are due…and yet at the same time, this person was missing a deeper aspect of why we work.

 

My reply, a few days later, returned the question by saying “yes, why indeed do you work for whatever you being paid.”  As I elaborated, no one is making you work at that job.  If you don’t think you are getting paid fairly, or enough, or “what you are worth,” then quit.  Now, that challenge gets down into the sense of self-ownership, owning your own actions and decisions as well as also relating to the concept that Paul is talking about.

 

Certainly, Paul is writing to Christians…so if aren’t a Christian, then I guess you can stop reading now (though, it might still speak to you).  Paul’s argument about work comes at the end of a section about relationships. Paul is looking at the center of the civic society…the family. In those days, though, many households would also include slaves.  I know that is very troubling for many in a post-Wilberforce, post-US 13^th Amendment; slavery then was still a harsh condition. We would prefer that Paul wrote demanding an end to slavery, but he did not.

 

What he did though was almost as startling…he urged slaves who had become Christians to work hard at their jobs, rather than with any sense of bitterness or frustration.  He equally challenged the owner of the slave to be just and fair…something that typically wasn’t stated.  That may not be good enough for us in 2017, but in a world that still has over 25 million people enslaved, perhaps we should read Paul with a more open mind.  If Paul is making such a startling statement to slaves and slave owners, then clearly employers and employees should pay attention.

 

“Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.”

 

Four take-aways for the employee based on Paul’s letter:

 

1. –do the correct or right work all the time, not just when being observed
2. –do the work with sincerity, meaning with intent for excellence.  The Greek word there implying both simplicity (meaning, not trying to add layers of complexity such as often happens in office politics) and uprightness.
3. –do the work willingly, almost eagerly
4. –do the work with all of your heart, meaning put your entire self into the work.  Note—that doesn’t mean to take your work home with you or that you must be working all the time.  When it’s time to not work, don’t.  Turn off the office email; that work will be there later.

 

What about for the employer?

 

1. –be just in your dealings with the workers which would imply no threats, no coercion, no demands outside a normal work life.
2. –be fair, meaning equity in treatment, pay, expectations of one worker to another, but I also think it means to treat them how you would treat yourself…or maybe better, how you would treat a blood relative.  No special treatment, but also no treatment that singles someone out unfairly.
3. –remember you have a God in heaven, a “master” to whom you will also give an account.  This can work even if you aren’t a Christian, I think, in that if nothing else, your reputation will stand in judgment over your actions.  People, both in the workplace and the town where you live, will know.  But, at the same time, even if you aren’t a Christian, I promise you that you too will be judged.

 

Work with excellence in all you do.  I promise, in our world today, that will stand out.  You will be rare…and thus highly valuable.