EVERY GOOD ENDEAVOUR
Connecting your work to God’s plan for the world
By Timothy Keller. Hodder & Stoughton. 286 pages. £12.99
ISBN 978 1 444 702 590
How is the Christian to live out his faith at work? In the Middle Ages, religious callings — monks, nuns, friars, the priesthood — were regarded as the really spiritual option. Everyone else had to make do with an ordinary job, which made them distinctly second-rate in religious terms. One of the great benefits of the Reformation was to eradicate this secular/religious divide and recognise the inherent value of all kinds of work, to be carried out in a godly manner as to Christ.
We are in grave danger of losing this biblical perspective on work. The idea that to be a preacher is inherently more pleasing to God than to sweep roads is entirely unbiblical, but sadly prevalent among evangelicals today. Calls for everyone who is able to do so to give up ‘secular’ work and go into some form of full-time gospel work reinforce this distorted understanding. The suggestion that ‘secular’ work is good merely to pay the bills (and support gospel workers) is seriously sub-biblical.
