You need to do something. Not just in the sense that there’s a chore awaiting your attention or a task with a looming deadline. You may countdown to retirement or daydream about suddenly becoming independently wealthy. Yet even if your material needs were met in perpetuity so that you never had to worry about putting food on the table, you would still need to do something – because you are human. We want more from life than simply keeping clothes on our backs.
We long for meaning.
Generally, we don’t like wasting our time: we want what we do to matter. Management experts have found that what predicts if an employee will give his best and stick around a workplace isn’t just money or benefits. True engagement comes from consistent encouragement and personal relationships. It is the result of having an inspiring mission and opportunities to grow. Which makes sense – God made us that way.
Now, you won’t ever read that in the Harvard Business Review, but check out the first two pages of the Bible some time. Even when food – good, healthy, delicious food – just sprung out of the ground, God still had something for man to do. “The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it” (Gen. 2:15 ESV). From the beginning, part of being made in the image and likeness of God meant working in and caring for His world. We worked not as a matter of necessity but of calling and vocation.
Our job was really great, too: a very good environment with a truly awesome Boss. He gave us a creative assignment that we were perfectly suited for, made sure we had what we needed to do it, and then cheered us on as we did (cf. Gen. 2:18-19). We had His blessing to grow and advance (cf. Gen. 1:28).
Pretty stark contrast from what a lot of us will walk into on Monday, isn’t it?
Yet, this was God’s original design for work. Understanding that reframes things. Your worth is more than a dollar amount on a pay stub or a title on a business card. What you are looking for isn’t greener pastures but what your Creator has called you to do. He is the One who makes work meaningful, and when we work with Him, we are blessed.
Discover God’s design for your life in our sermon series Real Men and our Bible study Ladies Night.