Our Monday Morning World seems so at odds with our Sunday Morning World, that perhaps we struggle to connect the two. With unemployment around 8% and the only certainty is job uncertainty we cautiously guard our work.
The following revelations from Australian Workplace Industrial Relations Survey released by the Department of Workplace Relations & Small Business are important:
- The average working week increased from 40 hours to 44 hours.
- Men worked longer, on average 44.9% compared with 42.5 hours for women.
- Freedom to arrange working hours to meet family consideration was critical.
- 70% were concerned about job security.
With 8% unemployment rates and with the safety nets of the welfare arm of the state diminishing the issue of jobs and workplace relations dominate our lives and bear a huge mark on our spiritual and family life, in turn our socio-economic status.
Given the intensity with which work occupies a large proportion of our lives one should commence the analysis by exploring the biblical tenants of work:
BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVES
Unlike the gods of the ancient world who created humans to be their slaves and to do their work for them, complaining when woken from their sleep by their noisy slaves, the biblical God is the first worker.
Our Lord is the one who effortlessly says: “Let it be”. Everything visible and invisible is the work of his hands. He is the Master Craftsman, the Potter [Isaiah 45:9, 64:8], the Architect of the Universe [Proverbs 8:22-31]. The Homemaker, the Weaver who knits humans together in their mothers’ wombs [Psalms 139:13-16] and Dressmaker: “if that is how God clothes the grass of the field…will he not much more clothe you of little faith?” [Matthew 6:30].
This is but a small sample of the majestic creative work of God. The work of God did not terminate following creation. My father says Christ has been working until now and I have been working. [John 5:17].
In recent times there has been a tendency to describe humans as co-creators with God. This is true in the sense that our work should be modelled on God’s creative work: “six days you shall labour and do all your work…for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them…” [Exodus 20:9-11]. Our work is secondary and creatively and does not in any way – complete God’s.
WHY DO WE WORK?
Work is not an aim in itself; we are required to work in order to provide for ourselves: “If a man will not work he shall not eat” [2 Thess. 3:13]. It is also a means of providing for one’s family. If a man does not provide for his relatives and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever [1 Tim. 5:18]. Work, moreover, is a means of providing for others – “He who has been stealing must steal no longer but must work, doing something useful with his own hands that he may have something to share with those in need [Eph. 4:28].
Last modified: May 26, 2020
