Work takes up the majority of our waking hours; and if we broaden our concept of work to ‘anything we do with intent or purpose’ then it is the most significant activity in our lives. This makes sense if we look through Genesis 1–2 and see that work is the first command we receive from God. We were created to work with God in stewarding his creation. In this series we will look at different dimensions of our work in light of God’s word.
Today we start a new series, “Our work as Worship”, which has been prepared by Kara Martin. Kara has authored Workship: How to Use your Work to Worship
God, and Workship 2: How to Flourish at Work. She lectures at Mary Andrews College and has worked in media and communications, human resources, business analysis and policy development. She is researching how to effectively equip workplace Christians.
Reflection: We are created to work. In the beginning … God worked. We are made in the image of a God who works, and the first command from God is to work, to steward his creation. The Hebrew for the work of God, which is so effortless, is only used of the work of God. God’s work is special, creating something from nothing. However, in chapter 2, when God rested from his ‘work’, the word there is the same word used for our work, human work. It seems clear that we have
been designed to work, that work is a good thing, that work is part of what it means to be human. Our work is to continue the work of God in creation: caring for it, sustaining it, filling in what still needs to be done. In doing this work, we need to be mindful that we are representing God in that work, and we are working for God.
Questions: How does this picture of work impact on the way you think about your work? (Note: work here is anything we do with intent or purpose, not just paid work.)
Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for granting us the privilege of working, of continuing the work that you started at creation. Help us to see everything we do in light of the beautiful work you did in creation. Amen
We’re reading the Bible until June 2nd with Kara Martin, author of Workship: How to use your work to worship God.