WATCH or READ - Jobs and Careers - How Should Believers View Them?

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I want talk about something that’s a little different from what I’ve been speaking on lately, and it comes from something that I’ve personally needed to look into for a long time but have only recently been able to look at correctly. We’re going to talk about our jobs and adulthood, specifically how we view these, go about them, and how they impact us.

How many of us want to work? How many of us LOVE our job enough that if we didn’t get paid for it, we would still want to do it? I imagine that many of us don’t LOVE it. There are usually a million other things we’d rather do, but that’s why we’re talking about this. Not that you’re going to love your job after this, but hopefully our perspective will change on it.

We often tend to view these things in the wrong light, usually an overwhelmingly negative one. We don’t want to go to work. We complain about having to do so, and it harms not only our motivation and overall happiness, but it can affect our spiritual lives as well. It’s something that we spend so much time doing and impacts so many parts of our lives though that we really should give time and energy to seeing it correctly and profitably, particularly as servants of the Lord. It’s an aspect of our lives that I think we can neglect the spiritual aspect of most easily. There’s therefore both temporal and spiritual reasons to consider this.

I haven’t heard many exhortations on jobs and careers before, and it’s ironic given that we spend the majority of our lives doing them and they have such a profound impact on us and what we do. If you’ve ever had a job that you hated, you know that it’s affect goes well beyond your shift. It can affect our sleep and every facet of our lives. They also tend to present the greatest spiritual challenges for us, for it’s at the workplace that we must be amongst non-believers.

The few talks I have heard on this have been good, and the message has essentially been, “We are to do all things as unto the Lord, and that includes our jobs. We need to do our jobs knowing that God is our true boss.” That’s 100% true. We need to drill this into our brains. Yet there’s more of a why to this answer which is often not explored, and we’re therefore basically left with the message of “you have to work because it’s just something we have to do for now, so do it unto God.” But the why is what makes it “click” in our minds. The why is what motivates us, and that’s what I want to explore.

We’re going to look at a few basic things: how we tend view our occupations, how we view ourselves in those roles, how we should view them in light of the big picture, and things to do moving forward. This is for everyone. Those who have been working longer may have a more difficult time changing perspective, but particularly for those who are either starting in the workforce or simply know that they will be someday, please pay attention and try to get out of this what you can, because it has great relevance to you and can be very helpful to living a life of purpose, happiness, and, most importantly, success with God. If we can view our time in the work force in the correct light, there is only everything to be gained. 

How We View Our Occupations

This may sound cliché, but it’s just a fact that perspective changes everything. If we view something as important and profitable, then we’ll give energy, time, and effort to it. But if we see little or no purpose or value in something, we won’t. Or if we do, it will be grudgingly and poorly done.

When I would hear this, I would think, “‘Change your perspective’ is just a cheap way of saying ‘live with it and choose to be happy.’” And it kind of is, but I didn’t realize the amount of ability that we have in choosing to be happy (or at least see things in a better light). It’s difficult to do, because at least personally speaking, when I’m unhappy with something, I sometimes want to be unhappy with it. For example, Katie and I tried having a date-night the other week. Mom and dad took both of the girls, and Katie and I were going to have an evening just to ourselves for the first time in a long time. It lasted about 3 hours until dad called saying Eleanor had been crying since they picked her up, so we drove over and grabbed Eleanor. We were frustrated, and I was angry that we wouldn’t have a night to ourselves. Yet Eleanor fell asleep on the way back to our house and stayed asleep, so Katie and I still basically had a night to ourselves. But I was still frustrated, and I had to talk to myself and realize, “I can either enjoy this or not enjoy this. It’s my choice.” We are the ones who control how much we let things affect us, but it can be difficult and must be worked at and learned. It’s the same kind of thing that Paul says in

Philippians 4:11 – I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.

Paul is choosing to be content, and he had to learn this. It’s the same thing we need to do. So, if we see real value in something, we’re willing to put forth willing effort toward it. But what’s unique about our jobs is that they’re often viewed as important and necessary, but not always in a way that produces this dedication of energy and effort. We know that they’re important, but we can still proceed with them in an unmotivated and pessimistic way. It’s like eating vegetables. I’m no fan of vegetables for the most part, but I’ll eat some (though I don’t look forward to it and I eat them first and as fast as possible).

In regards to work, at least when looking at myself, I find that I think this way because I recognize that working is important for our current existence, but I tend to think of its relevance only going this far. I give it very little (if any) relevance to our eternal hope, and that working is therefore something that we just have to do to get us by until Christ returns. While there are some elements of truth in this and it helps ensure that the things of the truth rule in our lives, it’s overlooking a lot of important facts revealed by God, and we’ll look at those shortly.

It’s interesting that even though we know that everyone will spend the majority of their lives working, we tend to be taught that the best part of our lives will be our care-free years of childhood, and that once we have to “grow up”, the rest of their lives is filled with responsibility and inconvenience. Adulthood is painted in a bad light and taught as something to fear. There are certainly some not-so-pleasant things about adulthood, but the same is true of childhood. I do not miss my teeth falling out of my head – I’m quite glad that is over with (at least, for now). The point is that because of how we view our jobs and adulthood, we have millions of people in the world who are unhappy with life because they feel that the best years of their life have been over since they had to “grow up and work.” Instead of their childhoods preparing them for adulthood, they taught them to fear and dread it.

It’s here that we see yet another reason to re-evaluate our view on working, because our view not only determines our own experience with it, but that of our children. If our children only hear us complaining about working, they’re going to learn to dread the day when they have to work as well. Working from home, it’s something I’ve thought about with our kids when they want me to play, but I can’t because I need to work. I would of course rather play with them, but I don’t want them to gain the impression that I’m miserable working, because there will be a day when they have to work too.

The Big Picture and How Our Occupations Fit In

Let’s look at how our jobs fit into the grand scheme of things. I’ve sometimes found myself making the mistake of thinking that just reading/studying and things like that were serving God, and that my having to go to work interfered with that (which it can) and therefore didn’t matter very much. This is the wrong way of looking at it. Not only did it make me dislike working and make it lose its higher purpose, but I wasn’t doing as good of a job as I should have been. I looked at my work day as something that I just had to “get through” in order to get back to living my life and serving the Lord. It’s somewhat Pharisaical actually. But while doing the daily readings one day, I came upon a verse which opened my eyes to how I should see work and how it fit into God’s plan. This is what made me want to speak on this.

1 Timothy 5:8 – But if any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.

As the husband, my job is to provide for my family. This verse showed me that if I don’t do this, then not only will my family suffer, but it will speak to spiritual deficiency. It’s so bad that it equates to “denying the faith.” It will show laziness and sloth not only for the temporal things, but for the eternal. How we take care of our family relates to how we care for our spiritual family, and a few chapters earlier in 1 Timothy, Paul gives Timothy a list of requirements for anyone who wanted to be more involved in teaching and leading the ecclesias. One prominent requirement is the ability to provide, care for, and lead his own family:

1 Timothy 3:5 – For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?

For me, this helped put things in the right perspective and is what made me want to look further into this subject, because it showed a direct correlation between our carnal jobs and our spiritual responsibilities. Even more so, it gave our carnal jobs a spiritual importance. Again, it’s a matter of perspective.

So the big question – how do we go about seeing things through the right eyes? I think we need to begin with the most encompassing question – what is the purpose of this life? Because if we know the purpose of this life and what our goal should be, this helps us see how our jobs should fit in and contribute to that goal. We know that this life is a trying-ground for the age to come; a test to see who will be worthy/capable of serving and ruling in God’s Kingdom. The roles we will have in the Kingdom will be varied, but it has been revealed that the righteous will reign with Christ for 1,000 years (Revelation 20:6). What we will do after that is not revealed to us, although we might imagine the beginning of a new creation, so let’s focus on our jobs in the Kingdom Age. 

As for perspective, here's how I think about it, and I imagine that many of you are the same way. Our current jobs can change constantly and aren’t necessarily assigned by God, but whatever duties and roles we’re granted in the Kingdom Age will be basically forever, and we’ll be unspeakably blessed to have the honor of doing them. Unlike in this dispensation, we don’t hope that our duties in the Kingdom will only last 40-50 years. We want to serve Christ forever! We won’t be forced to serve in the Kingdom, we will get to serve in the Kingdom. So our Kingdom Age roles are therefore our ultimate purpose, whereas we certainly don’t want to see our current jobs as defining our purpose in life.

With that in mind, what exactly are we going to do in the Kingdom Age? We look at this because understanding our future roles will not only strengthen our conviction for our Hope, but it will help us see how our current jobs can shape and prepare us for those in the Kingdom. 

We won’t look up passages on these for time, but many of us are familiar with this. The saints will help conquer the earth and rule it in justice. They will instruct and teach the nations, acting as judges and governors. We’re told that mortality rates will go sharply down, and while that may largely have to do with the removal of the curse of the earth, it could also be because the saints are enabled to heal people. There will be the services of the temple which will need to be done, and we will therefore also play the role of priests. A new form of government is going to be established over the entire earth, so there are plenty of duties which will need doing which are not specifically defined for us.

There will still be mortals on the earth, and they will be required to come up from year to year, month to month, and week to week to worship and learn, but they must have something to do while in their native lands, so we imagine that they will have some of work to do. Many of the things we learn from prophecy indicate that the world will go back to an agricultural society. I personally believe that individual families and communities will be required to take care of their own needs much how people used to do. But to have a more complete image of what that age will be, we need to also think about what duties and industries will not exist. 

The world will be so different that many industries which are critical and employ millions of people today will be virtually gone! The medical industry in the US alone is worth 808 billion dollars. In the entire world, it’s worth around 12 trillion dollars (U.S. Healthcare Industry Overview). It’s arguably the most necessary and universal industry in the world, and it will virtually disappear in the Kingdom Age as we expect that work to be done by the saints. There will almost certainly be the need for some kind of healing, but this will be carried out by the Spirit of God, not medicine (though I think it’s too much to assume that people will not know anything of how to use plants for healing purposes). We’re also told that the leaves of the tree of life will be given for the healing of the nations (Revelation 22:2).

The role of the entire justice system will be played by the righteous as well. Also, think of how many companies and industries cater only to the ways of the flesh. All of these will cease. So just thinking of these things, we can see how temporal many of these occupations are.

What does this mean for us? It means that we conclude that it does not necessarily matter what we do for a living now, as long as it’s not contrary to God’s Word and expectations for us. We don’t serve in the military or other forces for a great number of Scriptural reasons, and the same goes for involvement in the legal and political systems. But I think we could say that most careers are safe to enter into, but we will not do them forever.

If we’re a carpenter or nurse now, this does not mean that we’ll do this in the Kingdom, and we know this for certain because we’re given specific examples of it in Scripture. The most obvious, of course, is Jesus Christ. He was a carpenter, and we know that his role will be as a King in that future time. But we can find other examples that are closer to our level. Take the 12 Apostles for example. We aren’t told what all of them did for a living, but many of them were fisherman and tax collectors, yet Christ told them what their roles would be in the kingdom:

Matthew 19:28 – And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

They won’t be tax collectors. They won’t be fisherman. They’ll help Christ rule Israel. In the same way, we see a similar role of ruling given to the saints:

Revelation 5:9-10 – And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;  (10)  And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

What a wonderful thing! Now, here’s where I found it interesting. How many of us feel capable of ruling over nations? Do we feel qualified for this? I would assume not. Now, there will be ranks and degrees of rulership just like we see in the angelic host now, but I think any role like that would feel overwhelming to us if we were given it now. Yet we know that this is what we will be doing, so how will we go from our current roles and inexperience to helping Christ rule the earth?

I’ve always assumed that this ability and knowledge would be something that Christ would infuse in the righteous when he immortalizes them. We know that we will go from a corruptible, sinful frame to the incorruptible, perfect nature of the spirit, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that we will be granted unlimited knowledge. We’re told that the righteous will be made like unto the angels (Mark 12:25), and we believe that our roles will be similar to what they do now. When we look at the angels, not only do we see difference in rank, but we see a difference in ability and knowledge. Daniel 10 is one place we see this.

Daniel had an angel appear to him, and he was told that the angel would have come sooner but was delayed in his task of influencing the prince of Persia. He says,

Daniel 10:13 – But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia.

This angel, though immortal and of the spirit nature, was limited in his ability and needed assistance from another angel named Michael. We learn that Michael is also of greater ability and position than this other angel as he is called “one of the chief princes”. In Jude 1:9, he is also called the “archangel”. So the angels are not all exactly alike, and as we are to be made like unto them, this will be true of the immortalized saints as well. And this makes sense, for Christ has said that reward will be distributed based upon one’s works. We learn this in many of the parables where those who produced more were granted more authority and responsibility, but we’re also told this in

Revelation 22:12 – And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.

So what’s the point of this? When we are immortalized, it is possible that we will miraculously be given the ability to do whatever Christ needs of us. But, it appears that the nature of the roles we are assigned will not only be based upon our faithfulness, but upon our strengths. In 1 Kings 22, we’re given an incredible view of how God’s will among the nations is carried out, and we see God stating what needs to be done but allowing the angels to determine how it will be done and by whom. In this case, the question was how to cause Ahab to go up to battle so he would die in the field.

1 Kings 22:19-22 – …I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left.  (20)  And the LORD said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramothgilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner.  (21)  And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the LORD, and said, I will persuade him.  (22)  And the LORD said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so.

This particular angel felt the most capable of carrying it out, and God gave them the mission. So, I want to suggest that our roles in the Kingdom age will be at least partially determined by what we have shown ourselves to be capable of in this dispensation. This doesn’t that our exact job now will be carried into the Kingdom Age, but the things and skills we’ve honed and acquired from our roles and time on earth will be utilized. And if we remember that this life is a training and proving ground to see who is fit for use in God’s Kingdom, then this is the only natural conclusion we can draw. How is it a proving ground for a future role if the things we prove ourselves of are not in any way utilized? It’s like a military boot camp. Not only is this life designed to condition us and teach us, but whatever skill sets we show to be proficient in will help determine what roles we are given and what paths we follow.

So, while what our job is today doesn’t determine what we’ll do for eternity, I believe there is a correlation in the roles we engage in now and what our spiritual roles will be. Looking back at the examples we saw in Scripture, we saw how fisherman were to rule over the 12 tribes of Israel. They caught fish for a living, but Christ showed how that skill and the concepts of it could be applied to higher things. What did tell them when he was beginning his ministry?

Matthew 4:19 – And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

The basic role was the same, and so was the goal, but it was applied to a loftier purpose which was in line with God’s eternal purpose. They were no longer to catch fish, but to gather men and women through the Gospel.

We see this same correlation in Christ as well. He was a carpenter and built structures. He would build houses, shops, and probably all kinds of things for people. They had to be built correctly and upon a sound foundation. The structures had to be solid and built to last. There’s a lot of planning ahead. What is one of his integral roles as the Messiah? Is he not called the builder of God’s house that we all seek to be a part of and comprise?

Hebrews 3:3-6 – For this man (Christ) was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house.  (4)  For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God.  (5)  And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after;  (6)  But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.

We might remember that before a bridegroom could marry his bride, he had to build them a house which was connected to his father’s house. Only after that could he take his bride to himself and have the wedding ceremony. We read of Christ doing the same thing,

John 14:2-3 – In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.  (3)  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

“Preparing a place” correlates to the son “building their home”, which after it’s finished he would go and fetch her. Christ’s occupation as a carpenter fits right along with this.

We could think of a number of other examples like this in Scripture, but we see that while our temporal jobs do not necessarily matter completely in this current sense, I believe it is unprofitable to view them as near-pointless. The examples we’re given in Scripture show how these men and women learned lessons and had their character refined by their carnal responsibilities, and those skills and lessons were extrapolated and applied to God’s eternal purpose.

What this means for us is that regardless of what our job or role is, we should look at it and ask ourselves how we can utilize it to shape us and help us grow so we might be able to serve in a greater capacity for Christ in his Kingdom. What spiritual lessons and skills can we hone and use for God? To do it right, this will take some time to do. It not only gives us a spiritual reason to not lament the fact that we have to work, but it makes our jobs part of our service to God. That’s what we’ll look at next.

Part of Our Service to God

I mentioned how I used to look at working as something which got in the way of serving God, almost as if we can’t really serve God to our best ability while at work. I think the opposite is actually the case, for at our jobs is where we likely have the greatest opportunity to practice the things we learn from Scripture and be lights in the world. Nevertheless, the pressure of being in the world can impact us, sometimes to the degree that our work-self and our non-work-self are two very different people who serve different masters.

We can sometimes fall into the mistake of separating our job-self from our personal-self. It’s not really done intentionally but is more the result of subtly and gradually responding to the pressure of the world to conform. We naturally assimilate to our surroundings the longer we are in them. We can act like two completely different people when we’re at work and when we’re at home, and if we’re trying to determine whether this is something we do or not, just ask – Would people we know personally (like our family and ecclesial members) recognize us if they saw us at work? Would they see the same person there that they do at Sunday School? Would we be embarrassed for them to see us at work? Or if they were there, would we worry that our coworkers would note a change in our behavior? If so, then we need to work on strengthening and harmonizing ourselves so that the world does not determine who we are what we do based on who we are around, but the Word of God and the example of His son.

We don’t picture any of the righteous of old doing this kind of thing, do we? I find it very helpful in this to look at examples in Bible to see how they did it. We have examples of people being the best versions of themselves no matter what they did, although there are certainly times where we see people caving to pressure and changing their conduct.

David had many roles, but was a servant of the Lord in all of them. He didn’t justify ungodly words or conduct on the basis of, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do. I’m at work and around worldly people, so I have to fit in here.” No, he only had one Master and that was his God. Yet he also exercised wisdom in his worldly exchanges, and that’s a subject worth its own consideration (but not now). But it can take boldness and courage in faith, but it’s what we ought to strive for. In concept, though, it is very easy. We need only to remember who we serve, for we can only truly serve one master:

Luke 16:13 – No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other.

From my personal experience, if we realize that we haven’t been representing ourselves as we should, it can be more difficult to make the necessary changes at work if we’ve been acting like that for a long time, because our work peers are used to our conduct. Maybe this means something seemingly small like giving the impression that we find humor in crude jokes or language? Or giving the impression that we celebrate all of the pagan holidays that the world celebrates? I think we tend to have the hardest time knowing what to do in some situations to where it’s not outright confrontational but also not silent support, and the difficulty is that standing idly by and remaining silent gives the impression that we are like the world. 

For example, say one of our co-workers comes up to us (it’s just the two of us) and makes some crude joke. Do we just kind of half-laugh so as not to make it awkward, or do we kindly inform them that we find it offensive?

It can be hard to make changes sometimes, but the difficulty of something doesn’t change its necessity. The lesson here is that whenever we start a new job, we need to make sure to represent ourselves correctly from the get-go. That way people know who we are right from the start. This is something to keep in mind for those who haven’t entered the work force yet. Like many things, it’s easier said than done, but when we are washed and made clean in the blood of Christ, we take up the responsibility to keep our garments clean and remain faithful to the Lord who bought us. It is our duty.

As for the actual doing of our jobs, whatever they are, they should be done to the very best of our ability. The Scriptures give us clear and helpful instruction on this:

Colossians 3:17, 22-23 – And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.  (22)  Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God:  (23)  And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;

Romans 12:11 – Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord;

Titus 2:9-10 – Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things; not answering again;  (10)  Not purloining, but shewing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.

We note in this Titus reference that the aspect of preaching through works is shown. We are not to be slothful in our jobs, but honest and hardworking so that others may see the doctrine of Christ working in us. Yet there are other passages on how our jobs should be done:

Ecclesiastes 9:10 – Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.

Again, everything we do should be unto our God, and not only does this have temporal benefit for us in that it will help us be successful and find purpose every task, but it has spiritual blessings which come with it.

Ephesians 6:5-9 – Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ;  (6)  Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart;  (7)  With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men:  (8)  Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.  (9)  And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening: knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him.

Most of us are a form of servant in our jobs as we work for someone else, but we need to make one important distinction here because the servants which Paul is speaking to are true servants. The word here means “slave”. We today can choose our employer in many cases, so if a job isn’t great, we can just find a different one. But these servants are bound to their master or “owner” – they have to serve them. If they have a bad master, they have to live with it. We have a choice to keep working for someone, even though we sometimes may feel like we don’t. But think how that fact with Paul’s exhortation should affect us! If slaves were to follow Paul’s instruction here and “be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh… as unto Christ”, how much more so should we be able to do this? Particularly given that we can change our masters if we want to. Can we imagine not being able to choose our job?

But, what if we have a job that’s not the best? What if we have a terrible boss who makes things miserable for us? It’s true that we can find another job, and that might be the right thing to do. But, before we get too entitled to perfect treatment, we should consult what Peter and these other inspired writers say on the subject to evaluate our situation:

1 Peter 2:18-24 – Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward.  (19)  For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully.  (20)  For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.  (21)  For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:  (22)  Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:  (23)  Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:  (24)  Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

Peter here is talking about servants serving both their good AND BAD masters well, and he gives a special reason why. Again, these are servants so they can’t choose their master, so I think part of the exhortation is to make the most out of every situation we find ourselves in. But the REASON he says to serve bad masters well extends beyond this. He doesn’t just say, “Serve bad masters well because your true master is Christ”; he shows how it works to eternal good. It works to our growth and maturity in the spirit, “For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.” Think about that! There’s no honor in suffering for things we do wrong, because it’s therefore justified suffering. But if we do nothing wrong and suffer, then this is ”acceptable with God.”

But why? Peter directly cites the example of CHRIST in suffering in this same way. Christ did no wrong in his entire life, yet he suffered more than any other, but this was the means through which HE became the redeemer of the race of man. What greater eternal good could come from wrongful suffering than this? It’s a powerful lesson that can be hard to swallow as it means that we must sometimes accept wrongful suffering from time to time, but God allows or causes these things to happen to shape us. Christ’s wrongful suffering played a role in his learning obedience by the things which he suffered! Would Christ have been the perfect sacrifice he was if he had fled from every uncomfortable situation, or if he was too prideful to undergo the wrongful things he suffered? Certainly not. It could well be that any suffering we endure in our jobs could work to that same edification in us. It’s just something to think about if we’re having trouble at work before we start looking for a different job.

Now, this talk of servants gets into an interesting concept which I think we tend to forget, or if not forget, minimize the importance of. It’s the concept of being bond or free. As servants of the Lord, are we bond or free? While we are free of condemnation upon coming out of the waters of baptism, we are actually bondmen of Christ. This sounds like a negative thing, but it is the most desirable thing we could ask for! In Christ’s day, servants were purchased. By coming into covenant through baptism, we become servants, for the saints are those “which he hath purchased with his own blood” (Acts 20:28). We are bought by a wonderful Master, but we are servants of him. We are choosing to be bought by him, and he paid for us not with gold or silver, but with his own blood. That’s the love he has for his servants. Our Lord is therefore our ultimate Master as we have been bought by him.

Things to Do Moving Forward

Now, time is getting short, so to a final few thoughts, I want to end with a few things we can do to help not only go about our jobs in a productive way, but also what we can do to help ensure that our children see them correctly. There’s so much more I think we could look at, but I don’t want every talk I give to be a six-part series, so we’ll just hit the high points.

Like all things, this is something we should seek God’s help and guidance with. Perhaps we don’t even think to pray about this, but the Lord’s ears are open to His servants, and Peter tells us to “cast all of our cares upon him, for he careth for us” (I Peter 5:7).

Work is also something that we need to keep in balance. We saw the verse earlier which said that those who do not provide for their family “deny the faith”, but we can easily take this too far and work so much to provide the carnal things that we neglect to care for our families in the spiritual things. Balance is so important in all aspects of life, and as Bro. John Peake once wisely said, “If we think that we have never been unbalanced at any point in our lives, it’s likely that we have never been anything but.” We need balance in our jobs so we can tend to the other needs of our families and ecclesias, but also so we don’t become too invested in our careers where they become our profession and purpose. Our job should not become the defining part of our identity, because we know that our eternal role will not be doing what we do now. Take away our job and what does that leave us as? It’s a good question to ask, because our jobs are not our profession. Our profession should be a servant of Christ. Everything else is secondary.

Another thing we didn’t get a chance to mention is the role of preaching in our jobs (either through word or simply by example). Many Christadelphians discovered the truth through their job. Bro. Thomas Williams found the truth because he worked as a carpenter with William Clement who was a Christadelphian. God may use our jobs to bring others into the fold, and it’s something we need to keep our eyes open for.

As for our children, a parent’s duty is to prepare their children for life. As servants of the Lord, our job is to teach them about God and help them have the right perspective from the get-go – to show them the truth of things. This should include their preparation for entering the work force. Our perspective is different than other people’s on most subjects because of the light that God’s Word sheds on them, and this should be no different with work.

We should teach our children these things in their Scriptural light. We don’t want them to dread the future day when they have to work. We should rather integrate it into our teaching and instruction from early on so they have a profitable viewpoint. This can be hard to do, particularly if we are unhappy with our jobs and our own perspective needs work. But working will be an important part of their life no matter what, and we should be deliberate in how we talk and teach them about it. If we tell them, “Enjoy these years now, because once you start working all of that’s over – no more fun for you,” we’re teaching them to see entering the workforce as the cessation of their happiness and are thus prepping them up for an unhappy life. Yes, the childhood years are special and should be enjoyed, and that’s the message I think we’re trying to send, but we need to be careful in our positioning of this advice.

The underlying message shouldn’t be, “You’re life is going to be too busy and unhappy once you have to work”, but instead, “You’re going to grow and mature, and so will your capacity to take on more responsibility. Your likes and priorities will naturally change as you get older, and you will grow.” However we want to phrase it, the emphasis should be on growth and what that looks like, not servitude and unhappiness. Instead of phrasing like, “You won’t get to _______ anymore”, we can state it in the positive – “You’ll be able to _______.” I can buy hunting clothes. I can take my family on trips. There are all kinds of things which working and adulthood allow us to do that we dream of being able to do as kids, and highlighting those things makes it something to look forward to, or if not that, something that at least isn’t dreaded and feared. 

As to how we can teach this, one thing we need to do is ensure that our children don’t hear us grumbling and upset anytime we have to go to work. We can also start with the basic working tasks of house chores and showing those to be just things that we do and emphasize the importance and satisfaction in them. Walking on a floor with crumbs sticking to your feet is just downright terrible, but a broom can prevent that! Normalizing these tasks and having our kids help us with them early on shows them that this is just a normal part of life that can be enjoyed.

As a final thought, we aren’t going to do anything perfectly, either for ourselves or our children, but knowing what direction to head and letting God’s Word lead our understanding and perspective will help us get closer to the mark than if we follow our own ways, for as we’re told in Jeremiah 10:3, “I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.” And if we truly apply ourselves to trust in God’s wisdom and instruction so that they become not just a reference for our actions, but our trusted playbook, then our Lord will grant us entrance into his eternal Kingdom and entrust us with whatever role he sees fit. It’s hard for our little minds to comprehend the grandeur and honor of any role in the Kingdom, but even the smallest task is glorious enough to motivate us to keep ourselves clean and pure until our Lord returns:

Psalms 84:10-12 – For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.  (11)  For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.  (12)  O LORD of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.

In the Hope of Israel,

Tanner Hawkins