What is your perspective of work? Do you dislike the responsibility of work? Do you enjoy work? Do you loathe having to work? Is work part of God’s design or just a consequence of disobedience and sin/the Fall (reference Genesis 3)?
God and People at Work
From the beginning, God introduces Himself as the God that works. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). During creation, God pronounces His own judgement about the quality and the intention of His work stating six times that He “saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25). After creating everything, God rendered His cumulative assessment of His work. “God looked over all that He made, and He saw that it was very good” (Genesis 1:31). God works and declares His work good.
When God created, He made a distinction between people and all other created things by making people in His own image (Genesis 1:27) and giving them responsibility to govern the earth and reign over the fish, birds, and animals (Genesis 1:28). God had clear intention for everything He created, including that people would work in His good creation. God and people work together in God’s creation.
God’s Pattern for Work
Inherent in God’s creation is a pattern of work and rest. This pattern of work and rest is a way for people to spend time with God through working but also to celebrate God’s work and their work with God in His world. God blesses a specific measure of time: the 7th day of a day-and-night cycle (Genesis 2:1-3). God explains this blessing by distinguishing between the time used by God to create (i.e., His work of creation), and the time set apart, the Sabbath (Genesis 2:1-3; Exodus 20:8-11), for God and His people to enjoy one another in God’s creation.
You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of complete rest, an official day for holy assembly. It is the Lord’s Sabbath day, and it must be observed wherever you live. Leviticus 23:3
This work-rest pattern shows people how to live in God’s creation, what their responsibilities are, and how they are intended to enjoy God and work with Him in His creation. The Sabbath is more than just a day of rest; it’s a time set aside to spend time with God without having to accomplish work. The day is celebratory and worshipful to enjoy God and His creation, acknowledge your relationship with God, and demonstrate your reliance on and trust in God.
Bearing God’s Image
Did you know God made you in His image? See Genesis 1:26. Work allows you to share in the joy of being made in God’s image. You have responsibility to work in God’s creation and bear His image through all aspects of your life, including work. God warns His people to never make images of God out of physical materials in Exodus 20:4-5 as a part of the Ten Commandments. But God also instructs His people to forsake casting idols when they cross over into the land God is given them. God warns that they will be tempted to follow the practices of the people in the land rather than obey God’s instructions and receive His blessings.
When you cross the Jordan River, … Cursed is anyone who carves or cast an idol and secretly sets it up. These idols, the work of craftsmen, are detestable to the Lord. Deuteronomy 27:11a, 15a
You are God’s image in His world, so there is no need for you to make any images attempting to represent God in His creation. You are created to bear God’s image!
Just to be clear, you are not God, but rather you are created by God and have distinction from God. God created you with His likeness giving you the power for good or evil (morality), the ability to speak (communication), the capacity to commune with God (spirituality), the desire for relation with one another (community/relationships), and the responsibility to work in His world (industry; decision making).
God-Given Skills for Work
God is responsible for all of creation, sustaining it, giving it life, sharing Himself with the people He created.
Everything was created through Him [Jesus, God, the Son] and for Him. He existed before anything else, and He holds all creation together. Colossians 1:16c-17
The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to Him. Psalm 24:1
You are intended to live with God in His good creation joining God at work. With this responsibility to work, God gives you skills to accomplish work in His world.
The Lord has filled Bezalel with the Spirit of God, giving him great wisdom, ability, and expertise in all kinds of crafts. He is a master craftsman, expert in working with gold, silver, and bronze. He is skilled in engraving and mounting gemstones and in carving wood. He is a master at every craft. And the Lord has given both him and Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, the ability to teach their skills to others. The Lord has given them special skills as engravers, designers, embroiderers in blue, purple, and scarlet thread on fine linen cloth, and weavers. They excel as craftsmen and as designers. . . . So Moses summoned Bezalel and Oholiab and all the others who were specially gifted by the Lord and were eager to get to work. Exodus 35:31-35; 36:2
On his journey to Philippi, the apostle Paul encounters a group of women who gather for worship and prayer outside the city by a riverbank. One of the women was identified by her employment/work skills.
One of them was Lydia from Thyatira, a merchant of expensive purple cloth, who worshiped God. Acts 16:14a
Paul also described his work ethic, not only as a messenger of the gospel, but also as a tentmaker, working with Aquila and his wife, Priscilla (Acts 18:1-3), and as means to supply his needs, so that the church in Ephesus was not burdened to support Paul.
You know that these hands of mine have worked to supply my own needs and even the needs of those who were with me. And I [Paul] have been a constant example of how you can help those in need by working hard. Acts 20:34-35a
God gives you skills so you can join God at work in His creation and at the same time bear God’s image in His world. When the apostle Paul wrote to the followers of Jesus in Colosse, he provides them with how they should view work.
Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Remember the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ. Colossians 3:23-24
Work is a part of God’s design and God shares His pattern for work and rest so that life with Him is enjoyed in His creation. Work is a way to bear God’s image in His world by using the skills God has given you. If this isn’t your perspective on work and you are not enjoying God through your work, there’s probably a reason.
If you do enjoy work as God designed in His creation and you are bearing God’s image through your work, take a moment to praise God for approving of your work and sharing the joy of working with God in His world.
A prayer of Moses, the man of God: And may the Lord our God show us His approval and make our efforts successful. Yes, make our efforts successful! Psalm 90:17
