EDITORIAL: Workers join God in co-creation

Is Monday your best or worst day of the week? Either answer isn't good if you're trying to lead a God-centered life.

Our attitude about work plays a key role in how we see ourselves and rate the quality of our lives.

Some people hate Monday because they hate their work. Others love it because their work defines their lives. Since time on the job occupies a huge slice of our lives, our attitude about work plays a key role in how we see ourselves and rate the quality of our lives.

Central to this is the Christian idea of vocation. That's the focus of the cover package in this edition of the Standard. We hope and pray it will help you as you contemplate not only your life but your relationship to God and the world.

Of course, work has been central to human identity since The Beginning. Both of the Bible's creation accounts show how God assigned work. In Genesis 1:28, God tells Adam and Eve, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground." Genesis 2:15 reports, "The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it."

Editor Marv Knox

As human beings made in God's image, a prime "calling" is to work, to be productive. When we labor—whether it's in the jobs that pay our bills or the chores and hobbies and duties that fill our time—we cooperate with God in the function of the world. We are co-creators with God. In the beginning, God created the world and planted a garden for Adam and Eve. God could have created that world to function completely on its own. But because God loved people and gave them free will to reciprocate that love, God gave them tasks so their lives would be filled with meaning and purpose. We never are so close to our original selves as when we embrace the work we find to do.

When we think of work as an opportunity to co-create with God, we see an equality we often corrupt. Unfortunately, some laypeople view their vocations as inferior because God did not "call" them to clerical ministry. More commonly, millions of people see their jobs as inferior because either (a) their value is not as obvious as the worth of jobs that obviously benefit society, or (b) they are not compensated as well, and they equate value with money. But when we engage in and appreciate honest work, we collaborate with God in carrying creation forward and we express what being authentically human means.

In that light, labor not only is work, but it also is worship. When we take up a task, we act upon the creative image God stamped in us. We express gratitude for our own creation by joining God in creating. By embracing what God made us to do, we embrace God who made us.

As with all creation, the ideal of work can be corrupted. One distortion has to do with work; the other with the worker.

Some jobs do not reflect God's creative purpose because they dishonor creation. These jobs harm the worker and/or others, physically and/or spiritually. Jobs that do not serve humanity or that benefit some people at the expense of others do not advance creation. Some workers are coerced and trapped in these jobs, and God sees them with mercy. But many others engage these tasks wilfully, and they violate God's will.

Some workers over-identify with their work. This is a temptation in our work-centric society. If we're not careful, we become what we do. That distorts who God created us to be. We are God's children in relationship with God's other children. What we do indicates how we serve and worship God. If a person cannot contemplate retirement for fear of losing identity, then identity is misplaced.

Many people face yet another challenge: They are unemployed or underemployed. That often reflects the condition of our economy more than the willingness of the worker. This is a crucial problem for our society. But on the individual level, a paying job is not the sum and substance of vocational calling. The unemployed and underemployed can co-create with God through volunteer service and other labor.

Genesis says God worked six days and then rested. God's example emphasizes the need for work-rest balance and sabbath-keeping. And that's a topic for another discussion.

—Marv Knox is editor of the Baptist Standard. Visit his blog at www.baptiststandard.com.