Across one’s lifetime, the average person spends about one-third of it at work. That’s a lot of time…

For something that consumes so much time in our lives, loads of us don’t find meaning in it. While some of us are lucky enough to find work meaningful, many of us today see work merely as a necessity to make a living. And who can blame them? The job market’s been terrible for young adults, wages have essentially stagnated with respect to the cost of living and if reddit testimonies are to be believed, corporations are haunted by micromanagers and incompetent, cold-hearted bosses.

Yet, within this cesspool of corporate slavery, Christians are called to a different perspective. Here is what I want to explore in this post – how can Scripture and the Christian faith give us a new lens to view work, and how applicable is that perspective in modern times?

Work in Scripture

Throughout the bible, people and even God Himself have been portrayed to work. Starting all the way from the two Creation accounts in Genesis, God worked six days to bring forth Creation. He put Adam to work to steward His Creation in the Garden of Eden. The author of Ecclesiastes encourages the reader to enjoy the fruits of their labor while they live. Even a number of the NT writers espouse good work ethics (e.g. Col 3:23-24; Eph 4:28). Clearly, in the Scriptures, where there is life, there is work.

On the sixth day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. (Gen 2:2 NRSVUE)

The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. (Gen 2:15 NRSVUE)

Work by itself isn’t what drives people up the wall, however. The problem often isn’t work itself, but fruitless work surrounded by toxic work culture. I can guarantee that any reader that comes across this post can relate to at least one incident at the workplace that made them question what the meaning behind all this work is (if you haven’t, you lucky duck).

Traditionally, the church attributes this fruitlessness and workplace despair to sin, borne out of Adam and Eve’s disobedience. How does sin twist work in fruitlessness? Rather than simply accepting fruitless work as a curse ordained by God, I personally see work being made futile through the hands of corrupt humans bounded to sin. Everyone knows that one colleague, superior or CEO who suck. They don’t know what they are doing, they look out solely for their interests at the expense of others, they allocate pointless tasks and put others down to prop themselves up – the list goes on. The work itself may occasionally be challenging and even result in failure <panics in p > 0.05>, but hard work by itself isn’t what makes work burdensome.

You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. (Gen 3:18 NRSVUE)

It’s the people and the systems they design who makes work harder than it needs to.

Is there meaning in work itself?

Now that I have provided my opinion on what about work that makes it fruitless (the sin of Man), here is where I want to consider – is there any meaning in work itself, minus the burdensome parts? For the purposes of the rest of this post, I will define “work” as synonymous to a job – a structured employment activity done to reap benefits such as a pay check or to put food on the table (as opposed to other voluntary activities).

It is much harder to find sufficient clarity from Scripture on this question. In some parts of the bible, there is outright condemnation of sorcerers, prostitutes, swindlers and other “jobs” that clearly cross God’s law. There are some hints that certain jobs such as tax collectors were seen as less desirable (lumped together with sinners in Mark 2:15), but that is probably more culture-related instead (I don’t think people working in the IRS are working less meaningful jobs). By and large, work was and has been accepted to be part and parcel of life. I don’t find the argument “because we are called to work, just as God did” particularly convincing because even if it was true, it still does not explain the rationale behind this calling to reflect what He did. Why would a loving God ordain us to work? God struck people down too; surely we know not to copy him in this regard. So far, it seems work has no other meaning other than to put food on the table…

Here is when I like to look past the bible to consider whether work offers other benefits beyond making a living and conforming to divine command. Psychologists have offered a framework called self-determination theory that broadly captures intrinsic human motivations and tendencies. Under this broad framework, there exists a sub-framework called the basic psychological needs theory (BPNT). Here, proponents claim that humans have three basic psychological needs to be met in order for an activity such as work to be deemed fulfilling, meaningful and psychologically beneficial:

• Autonomy – a sense of being at the wheel, to have a say in their own life’s choices as opposed to being dictated or commanded
• Competence – a sense of being able to achieve mastery of a task, and the satisfaction that comes with achieving goals set
• Relatedness – being able to connect with others to reach a sense of belonging

Does work addresses these fundamental needs? I think so. In a way, work when handled right creates an environment where people are given sufficient autonomy to make the right choices towards a goal. Good work culture rewards its participants with a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction from reaching measurable, obtainable targets. And throughout this process, workers can connect and form bonds through shared struggles and common goals. I would like to think God created us with these basic psychological needs, and called us to work so that these needs are met while earning a living. This process is how people are able to find and generate meaning at their workplaces, keeping us fulfilled and content. Furthermore, studies have shown that people who retire and do nothing decline much faster than those who keep themselves busy. The lack of work seems to be almost a poison for humans in their golden years when idleness fills their life. Perhaps that too, is also hinting towards God’s design for us to work for our own well-being.

This is just my opinion and theological perspective on why work seems to be persistently a universal part of life, perhaps even ordained by God in our lives. Nonetheless, I don’t think my argument is entirely foolproof and there are real, valid concerns for how such a perspective can be criticized. For example:

• Psychological needs vary person-to-person. Does that imply meaning in work only exists when these needs are met (and thus subjective)?
• Why is work so necessary when these psychological needs can be met outside of work? Why the need for work today, as a formal system of employment specifically?
• Are some jobs more meaningful than others?

Let me know what you think why God calls us to work!

The problem of suffering work

It is hard to discern why would God, our all-loving Heavenly Father, would design work to be such a universal part of the human experience. It is one thing to declare that work is meant as a way for us to serve and glorify God. It is another thing altogether to say work must exist for us to serve and glorify God. And I have not found convincing theological reasons to support the latter.

In today’s time when modern-era work woes plague us, His divine design (if there ever was one for work) seems even less apparent than before. Even as I offer my perspective above, I find it challenging to not wonder why God couldn’t have engineered our lives otherwise to be without the need for this icky mess of employment.

This challenge of the fruitlessness and pointless suffering from work is analogous to the ancient problem of suffering and evil. Scripture deals with this problem via the Book of Job, yet never offers a solution. Rather, what Scripture offers instead are values and perspectives for the lives of God’s followers, which subsequently bleeds into how we should conduct our work lives. Some of these include:

• Upholding justice and integrity (Micah 6:8)
• Provide for the needy (Matt 25:34-46)
• Be salt and light (Matt 5:13-16)
• Edify one another (1 Thess 5:11)
• Love God and keep His commandments (Luke 10:25-28)
• Earn your living honestly, but don’t be enslaved by money (Matt 6:24)
• Enjoy your fruits of your labor (Ecc 3:13)
• Utilize your spiritual gifts for the benefit of others (Romans 12:6-8)

Nevertheless, I personally wish for more Christians to explore this issue more deeply on the necessity and meaningfulness of work, instead of parroting the same old rhetorics from Genesis about how we are created in the image of a God who worked, or how work is an act of worship to God. What is it about work that makes it so necessary and central to our lives since Day 1 of humanity? Is work something truly ordained by God out of our necessity (or goodwill), or is it just a product of our capitalistic hellscape? Not that I think having the answers to these questions will actually influence whether we work or the way we work (all of us still have to eat), but I think if such answers exist, they can clarify to us His divine design at work (pun intended) in our modern lives, not just for Christians but to people of all faiths.

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. (Col 3:23-24 NRSVUE)

Ok, I’m done blabbering. Back to work.