Working for the Lord

One of the troubling issues of our national economy is the number of people who are not at work.

While the official unemployment statistics are very low, because very few are looking for work, the number on out-of-work benefits has risen to 5.6 million, and growing (The Spectator, 24 February 2024). It seems that since Covid, for whatever reason, many are reluctant to get back to work.

Many Christians seem to be equivocal about the value of daily work. Our churches support pastors and missionaries, and see the importance of church activities and programmes, whether for staff or volunteers. But we are less enthusiastic about ‘secular employment’.We often pray for church workers and evangelists, but rarely for factory workers, engineers, accountants or salespeople. Perhaps we have more sympathy for those in the public sector – at least teachers, medics, and carers are clearly doing good to others, but we are more squeamish about business and enterprise.

We need to remember that we were created to work. The Lord who sovereignly summoned the universe into existence created us in His image to rule over and subdue His creation. We are to exercise dominion over the world: refining, crafting, and developing natural resources, and managing plants and animals, producing goods which will feed and serve humanity. When Adam and Eve sinned, their mandate to exercise dominion was blighted with pain, frustration, and ultimately death. In the world today most do not work for the Lord’s glory and according to His will. But still we exercise dominion and, by common grace, much good is done. We cannot deny the extraordinary progress of technology, especially in recent times. In the 1960s, 80% of the world’s population lived in extreme poverty; now it is around 10% (The Guardian, 3 February 2021). Our standard of living has risen remarkably and global life expectancy has doubled over the last 100 years.

Productive labour serves others – it is a way of loving our neighbours. As Christians we have a greater vision, as we exercise dominion according to the will of God. We serve the Lord in our daily work, seeking to please Him as we fulfil our creation purpose, serve others, and work according to His will. We are bringing order to chaos, we are fruitfully producing for the benefit of others and for His glory.

We should pray for one another in our daily work. This is not just praying that we will have opportunities for Christian witness, important though that is. We have a holistic vision of the Christian life which makes sense of everything that we do, so we should pray for our projects at work, and our relationships with colleagues and customers. We should commit our plans to the Lord and pray for opportunities to serve and be fruitful in the workplace. We do all things, including our daily work, for the glory of God.