The Christian Man Chapter 7
Work – How should I think about my work?
One of the many self help themes is for us to stop thinking of ourselves as what we do when asked, “What are you?” My response was always that I was a structural engineer and I designed offshore platforms. It was the “politically correct” answer and put me in a box in everyone’s mind so they could ignore me and move on. My response was “accurate”, but it probably did not give a very accurate picture of who I really was. (Except maybe that one year I worked way too much.)
One of my biggest traits is that I do not go with the flow when the flow is not doing the right thing. The industry I work in is often portrayed as evil and doing not the right thing, but the less than good parts I worked in did not get my buy in. On one project I remember a guy trying to come across a table when I stuck to the truth about how long something work take and refused to skip steps, and how I was told I could put any note I wanted on a drawing, but they were still going to send a “clean” copy out. I eventually got tired of the situation and quit. But I never doubted God had wanted me there.
Each job I had, I got and left based on what I believe God was asking me to do. Even my most recent client I believe came to me because it was where God wanted me to be. When I was in college, they had a group called the Order of the Engineer that really pushed ethical behavior in engineering. I joined, but I knew it was nothing different that an outward expression of the way God made me to be. I am a rule follower, but not everyone is.
This book tries to boil what the Bible says about work down into a few neat phrases. The first was that we are to eat, drink, and be satisfied by toil. Totally true. It then tells us that we need to believe that what we are doing is what we are meant to be doing. A friend’s wife had a challenge at work coming and a seemingly tremendous opportunity to change jobs. As she dutifully prayed, it seems that outcome is that God wanted her to realize her current job was the one He wanted for her.
The big question is often how can we be satisfied by work or at least the current job we have. They often seem miserable and unrewarding. I believe the gap in satisfaction is often that we think we work to earn money to do what we want, and making more to do more is satisfying. The book tells us we are to “work as agents of Christ to glorify God.” If that is not your goal, then you need to do some soul searching.
One of the truths of the Bible is that God knows what we need, He knows what we want, and He wants to give us blessings beyond measure. If you trust God to meet your needs, align your wants with His, and follow His lead, you will be blessed. It is a promise that God has made. My life speaks to its fulfillment.
Our work life should be filled with excellence, integrity, vision, leadership, planning, execution, and service. It is to provide value and we are to subdue it and rule over it. We are not to let our jobs rule us, but we are to be who we are called to be, and just so happen to serve as an engineer, a teaching assistant, or researcher, or whatever; even washing telephone trucks. Every vocation is sacred, it is a ministry. Our jobs are our launching pads to serve, and every interaction is an opportunity to glorify God.
Love your job. Not because it is easy or makes you a lot of money, but because it lets you do the will of God for your life. Even if you have to change jobs.