How to Find Joy in Any Workplace
- Candice Lucey Contributing Writer
- Published Oct 09, 2024
Most jobs are not glorious or well-paid. The average person’s work goes unseen and unappreciated. Doctors, surgeons, politicians, and head chefs enjoy prestige, but what about dish cleaners, nurses, and secretaries? If we love our jobs, accolades might not matter, but if work is a drudgery, we might be depressed or even angry because no one acknowledges how hard we work for so little reward.
And even if we like what we do and are unconcerned about the money or acknowledgment, it can be hard to relate it to God’s work. We wonder if our forty hours a week does anything for his kingdom, or if we should all rather be missionaries in a third world country. So we feel guilt and uncertainty instead of joy.
But Scripture shows us that all kinds of work can be God’s work through us, and joy is possible even if the task is low-paid and the worker is invisible.
We Want to Work
In spite of what many employers say right now, most people want to work in some capacity. They might not know what that work should look like, but work gives them purpose and dignity. We are made in the image of God, who worked for six days to bring the world into being, and then rested. We were made to work – in the Garden Adam and Eve were given tasks.
“The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it” (Genesis 2:15).
Tim Keller addresses the ways in which we connect our work with God’s work in his book Every Good Endeavor, an encouraging read for anyone in any profession. He says that a job is not a vocation when you do it only for self-fulfillment. We are valuable contributors and not merely takers when we work, and we are following God’s example. Keller wrote that “Work has dignity because it is something God does and because we do it in God’s place, as his representatives.” (p.49)
But drudgery and depression set in when work is only a means to an end, and it feels pointless and repetitive. Some people are looking for a calling in life and wondering if they are missing it because, after all, there are jobs and then there are vocations. One might say that a person is pursuing a vocation when he or she is fully committed to a job, has the integrity to serve others through the work he or she is doing, and feels called. Even when the job is tough, when it is a vocation, there is no giving up. Nursing, social work, pastoring, teaching: these are a handful of jobs which one might think of as a “calling.” Yet, some pastors, nurses, teachers, and social workers go through the motions, and it is obvious in comparison with how much someone cares when he or she is called.
So the job itself is not the point; it is the calling and, more specifically, the One who calls.
The Maker’s Work for Us
When you are called into a job by someone else to serve others, the job becomes a vocation. This means that, if we believe God has called us to a place in our lives, where we have a job and are committed to doing it for others, then we are pursuing his calling for us. We do not have to change jobs and go into the mission field in order to be working for the Lord. This is encouraging news! As Keller has said, even menial tasks are “the ‘masks’ through which God cares for us [...]. These are all God’s callings, all ways of doing God’s work in the world, all ways through which God distributes his gifts to us.” (p. 71)
Imagine the Lord working through you as you do the dishes, pick up garbage at the curbside, or drive a bus, because these are all tasks which someone needs to do and which serve a family or a wider community. He has gifted each person with talent or aptitude; he has established us each in a time and a place for our work. When we realize that it is his plan, we realize that we are cooperating with him in the grand story he is writing. We can stop and enjoy the beauty of being involved with God’s work.
Workers in the Bible
Phillip J. Swanson has compiled a list of occupations mentioned in the Bible. He points out that “few Hebrews followed a profession linked to the unique structure of their religion.” As social structure and technology changed, so did the types of work we see. Swanson’s list includes butlers, soldiers, hunters, fishermen, metalworkers, carpenters, politicians, and more.
Leviticus describes building the tabernacle, creating the priestly garments, and constructing the ark. “Bezalel and Oholiab and every craftsman in whom the Lord has put skill and intelligence to know how to do any work in the construction of the sanctuary shall work in accordance with all that the Lord has commanded” (Leviticus 36:1).
Nehemiah outlines the rebuilding of Jerusalem. “The Jeshanah Gate was rebuilt by Joiada son of Paseah and Meshullam son of Besodeiah; they repaired it, hung its doors, and installed its bolts and bars. Melatiah the Gibeonite, Jadon the Meronothite, and the men of Gibeon and Mizpah [...] worked alongside them. Uzziel son of Harhaiah of the goldsmiths’ guild worked next to him, and next to him Hananiah, one of the perfumers” (Nehemiah 3:6-8, The Message). Work is frequently mentioned or hinted at in Scripture. God has chosen to bestow work with worth, even trades like carpentry and tailoring.
Also mentioned were certain nobles who “refused to get their hands dirty with such work.” (v.5) The ESV puts it this way: the Tekoite nobles “would not stoop to serve their Lord.” Their attitude echoes the attitudes of many modern people who would rather oversee others than roll up their sleeves and contribute, who would even prefer to collect an unemployment check than to do any work they deemed “beneath them.”
God has honored the workers who toiled for his glory. Perhaps our part in his story will also be told? What joy! Meanwhile the legacy of these proud and lazy nobles is a rebuke from God.
Work as Service
Tim Keller quotes Lester DeKoster, who describes “how indispensable work is for human life in all times and places.” DeKoster says that “work is the form in which we make ourselves useful to others” and vice versa. He breaks it down this way, that we could not create everything that contributes to living life if we doubled our 40-hour work week. We could not survive without the work of other people, nor could they survive without our efforts. “The difference between [a wilderness] and culture is simply work.” (pp.75-76) If those nobles had seen themselves as servants, they might have enjoyed getting their hands dirty.
Our work can be a means by which we love others, even strangers, as we were commanded to do by Christ (Mark 12:30-31). But it is only loving if we “do the job as well as it can be done.” (p.76) How can we manage such a commitment? When we recognize that our work is essential to other people, just as theirs is essential to us, its importance becomes real to us. Even if the world does not honor what we do, we can behave honorably and even joyfully in the knowledge of what our work means to society. Seeing our jobs as “service” and our need for the services others provide prevents us from growing prideful.
We enjoy work more when we recognize its value. And when we see it as God’s work through us, we know that we are serving him. How often have you wanted to give the Lord something out of love for him? He gives you the opportunity when you serve on the job site. And because your work is service, the added joy is that you will be reflecting the work of Christ in your life, where he continues to chisel away at sin and sanctifies you. Non-believers can see Jesus through your attitude to work.
Connecting Christ’s Work to Ours
Perhaps one of the most poignant ways in which Scripture gives dignity to menial work is by connecting the lowest to the highest via the Shepherd King. Jesus was often referred to, both prophetically in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, as a shepherd. Swanson explains: “Given the rugged terrain of Palestine, the constant threat from wild animals, and the ceaseless search for water and pasture land, the responsibilities and dangers of the shepherd were great.” Shepherds, though brave and fiercely committed to protecting their flocks, were regarded with contempt by society. Yet, it is to shepherds that the news of Jesus’ birth is first announced (Luke 2). He did not see them as any more lowly than a governor, Rabbi, or farmer.
Jesus’ attitude to sacrifice was this: “for the joy set before him he endured the cross” (Hebrews 12:2). From that lowest point, where his work was to give his life and take our penalty for sin, Jesus rose to the highest point where he still works. He is now “at the right hand of God, [....] interceding for us” (Romans 8:34). Either on his throne in his kingdom, or as a man walking among his people, the Lord Jesus Christ has worked with joy. We follow him in pursuing service and the joy he found in work.
God’s Intentional Calling
Some jobs really are difficult to enjoy, but the Lord shows us that you can approach even those jobs joyfully. The key is to associate your work both with the Lord’s work and to see it as the Lord sees it: worthy, dignified, and necessary. See it also as part of the design for your life, God’s intentional calling. Your profession is no mistake if you believe the Lord has placed you here. Realize that you are serving your Savior, who did not turn his nose up at even the worst kind of work.
Related Resource: Thriving Vs. Surviving—The Little Things That Bring Us Joy
As so many of us go about our daily lives, living what we might see as “ordinary” lives, we might wonder, while we are working hard at our jobs, providing for ourselves or our families, and staying so busy with the many things that make up the basic details of surviving, how can we also begin thriving and really enjoy our lives beyond merely keeping it all together?
On this episode of Jesus Calling, our guests this week offer some simple suggestions for ways to bring some peace and joy to our daily existence. Tara L. Cole is a writer, educator, and mom raising school-aged kids during what can often be seen as turbulent times. She offers a few simple ways she helps guide her kids through this season of their lives through spending time with them, providing boundaries for the media they consume, and introducing prayer into their daily routines. Amy Hannon, the founder of Arkansas kitchen boutique Euna Mae’s, finds that simple hospitality brings joy to herself and others. And although she has turned it into a beautiful business, she encourages us that hospitality doesn’t have to be a show and gives us easy steps to welcome gladly and serve faithfully in ways that fill our hearts and others. If you like what you hear, be sure to subscribe to Jesus Calling on Apple or Spotify so you never miss an episode!
Sources
Keller, Timothy, Every Good Endeavor (Viking, 2012)
https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hbd/o/occupations-and-professions-in-the-bible.html
Photo credit: ©Getty Images/simon2579
