Why work? This is a question Salford Elim’s Neil Hudson has long considered. Alongside his role at the church, he also works for the London Institute of Contemporary Christianity. In this article, he looks at the biblical basis for work.
6.30am: Annette’s alarm begins the day. Shower, breakfast, corralling the kids into school uniforms, through toast and marmalade and into the car destined for the playground.
Then her work begins. A different school. A different challenge. The reality of being a teaching assistant. And a follower of Jesus. Some days she loves work: the children, the teachers, the school, the reason she applied for the job in the first place. Some days are different. It can be a long hard slog; the children can be uncooperative, the teachers moody, and she asks herself why she is doing it all anyway.
It’s not for the money; it’s not that great. It’s not because she loves to work, she could find lots to do outside her workplace. It’s not because the job is perfect, it often isn’t. So why does Annette work, and how does the Bible help her get a new perspective on this ordinary life?
Why do we work?
We work because we were designed to. There is much in the Bible that is not explained, just assumed. One of the big assumptions is that from the moment of creation, the intention is that we use the creative skills that reflect our creator God to bring order and meaning to the creation around us.
Genesis 2:1-24 gives us a picture of Adam’s place as a human in the middle of the abundance of creation.
He was in a garden that had an incredible variety of species, vegetation and precious minerals to discover; and places to explore. And his task? God ‘took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it,’ (Genesis 2:15).
But Adam needed a helper to be able to do all that he had been created for, and so Eve was formed. Created to be together in relationship with the Creator to do the work that was theirs to do.
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