Work to Live

We find some part of our identity in our work. Our minds are geared around the fact that we enjoy accomplishing tasks, fulfilling obligations, and meeting deadlines. We enjoy the excitement of knowing that we have created. This is because we were created in the image of a God that creates. The Bible opens up with the account of a working God creating a world. You and I, created in the image of God, were given a world to care for and a life of creative, purposeful work opportunities. God revealed himself in Christ, a carpenter. Work is a part of creation. The stars shine, plants grow, sun gives off heat, animals gather, and when we work we’re doing what we’ve been designed to do. Psalm 104: 23 says, “People go out to their work and to their labor until the evening.” Work is our contribution to God’s amazing creation. For this reason Paul gives the command, “If a man will not work, he shall not eat.”
Now if you have a job, or worked for many years and now retired you enjoy quoting this verse. If you are without a job, you don’t like this verse. I want to be clear: there is a big difference between those who cannot work because of circumstances like illness, injury, disability, or age and those who are not inclined to work because they simply have chosen not to work. It’s one thing when someone has a genuine need. It’s quite another when someone thinks the world owes them a living. The problem with our government based welfare system is that it cannot tell the difference between the two groups. In our passage, Paul is speaking to people who have willingly left the workforce and are now relying on the rest of the Christian community to support them in their laziness. It’s hard to pray for daily bread for the family when steps are not being taken to provide the bread. It also takes away resources from those that are in real need. “If you can work”, Paul says, “You should work.”
Mother Teresa was once asked by a reporter one day, “What is your biggest problem?” Mother Teresa answered with one word: “Professionalism.” She said, “Here are these servants of Jesus who care for the poorest of the poor. I have one who just went off and came back with her medical degree. Others have come back with registered nurse degrees. Another with a master’s in social work, and when they come back with their degrees, their first question always is, “Where is my office?” Then she said, “But you know what I do? I send them over to the House of the Dying where they simply hold the hands of dying people for six months, and after that, they’re ready to be servants again.” Whatever our occupation, our vocation is to be a servant. Some folk will only see God through us and at work is when most folks see us. It is true we work to live, but it can also be said we work so that others may see Christ live in us. Many occupations, one vocation: being a servant of Jesus Christ.