At IFC’s partner organization, the Institute for Faith, Work & Economics (IFWE), we like to take some time around the Labor Day holiday to pause and meditate on the greatest tool God has given us to impact the world: our work. This year, we asked some of our regular IFWE blog contributors to share what God has been teaching them about the theology of work lately. Here are their responses. We hope you find them valuable and can get to know these thoughtful contributors more through their writing with IFWE.
Dr. Susan Wharton Gates: The world is a great big mission field, and God puts people in different places to fulfill his purposes. If you don’t know what he’s doing with your life, think about crop rotations. Not only does God have purposes for the field, he has purposes for his workers. As someone who got assigned to a new “field” in her sixties, I can testify that it takes a lifetime of different sorts of people, places, and things to develop calling and character. Your job may be like planting or harvesting (or inglorious weeding and watering), but all tasks are necessary, in season, for our lives to produce a bumper crop. Sometimes when the work is hard, we are tempted to look at someone else’s field and wonder why ours isn’t blooming the same way. Another temptation is to get comfortable, as if we’ve arrived. I also see this with my daughter who suddenly lost her job and now finds herself in a totally different field. It’s been bumpy and uncomfortable, but God is using the new season to blossom greater faith, hope and love.
Read a recent article by Dr. Susan Wharton Gates: U.S. Debt Concerns & the Danger of Overspending
Dr. Joshua Nangle: I am learning to recognize work as an opportunity to create something good that glorifies God while simultaneously serving God’s image-bearers. Work is often viewed as a necessary evil, but really it is an unbelievable opportunity where we can imitate our Heavenly Father’s creativity and bless those he has placed in our care. God is good, creative, productive, and a provider, and work is our opportunity to reflect each of these attributes. As we work like God, we will create beauty, produce goodness, and provide for the flourishing of others.
Read a recent article by Dr. Joshua Nangle: Business & the Local Church
Sometimes when the work is hard, we are tempted to look at someone else's field and wonder why ours isn't blooming the same way.
Pastor John Pletcher: With autumn arriving, I am joyously engaged in plans, research, and content creation for a fresh “faith & work” focus at our church. Fall initiatives include a six-week Sunday series titled “Work Like Jesus.” Conceptual sparks for these six messages include the wise insights of Dr. Klaus Issler. In tandem, we are offering a seven-week book club on Wednesday evenings where participants will discuss my first book, Henry’s Glory: A Story for Discovering Lasting Significance in Your Daily Work.
Read a recent article by Pastor John Pletcher: Finding Compassion & Hope Amidst Culture’s Raucous Waves
Russell Gehrlein: Here are some of the many things God has brought to my mind to reflect on concerning the practical theology of work, found at the intersection between his presence and my work. I have been seeing how God has clearly led me in every phase of my military career, from its humble beginnings, through every trial, and in my final years as I approach retirement. His grace has brought me safe thus far and his grace will lead me home. I also cannot shake my deep conviction that the people we meet at work, whether they are bosses, coworkers, employees, or customers, are divine appointments. As we show genuine concern for them, opportunities will open up for us to meet their needs sacrificially as Jesus taught in the Parable of the Good Samaritan.
Finally, the battle between flesh and spirit is most often seen at work, simply because it is where we spend much of our waking hours. We need to put on the full Armor of God, put off the old self, and put on the new self every time we see our fleshly nature rear its ugly head.
Read a recent article by Russell Gehrlein: How Does God Lead Us to Our Calling?
I also cannot shake my deep conviction that the people we meet at work, whether they are bosses, coworkers, employees, or customers, are divine appointments.
Scot Bellavia: As a child, I often confused Memorial Day and Labor Day. I knew they were the bookends of summer and meant cookouts and swimming, but we never reflected on the reason for the holiday. Now, as a father of three, I love to tell my children why I have a random weekday off of work. It’s a chance to include the meaning of the minor holidays into our mealtime prayers. In the last year, I’ve read, thought, and written about hurrying. It turns out first responders are the only ones who need to hurry at work. Missed deadlines and unanswered emails do not an emergency make; they are usually a result of poor planning or human limitations. Like the Sabbath, observing Labor Day allows us to reflect on our hard work, recognize that we haven’t done any of it alone, and rest in God’s provision, by way of himself and the labor of others.
Read a recent article by Scot Bellavia: What Does the Book of Hebrews Tell Us About Living by Faith?
Dr. Renita Reed-Thomson: The recognition of the image of God in every person, created with the capacity to contribute to flourishing in their own life, their family, their community, their church, and their nation, needs a considerable paradigm shift away from programs and aid. The church can deliver this message, yet for too long, we have spent time asking for people to share their wealth, without helping them to create it. Every church must ensure that every member is working, as that is what God has created us to do! And when we are inspired to see work as an act of worship, we begin to unlock the potential of every person to be a change agent.
God has called us to participate in bringing the Kingdom of Heaven to earth. Earth is not a waiting room for heaven where we cling to the hope of our personal salvation. We are to bring Kingdom hope to each person, helping them see that they have been made in the image of a creative, working God, and because of that, they have something to offer the world.
Read a recent article by Dr. Renita Reed-Thomson: Remembering Walter Brueggemann: Sabbath as Resistance, Saying No to the Culture of Now
We can create in a way that carries “an aroma that brings life” (2 Cor. 2:15-16 NIV). And when we do that, our work becomes a quiet but steady defense of the faith.
Jacqueline Isaacs: This year I’ve written several articles about individuals who defended their faith in Christ through their work. Earlier this year, I shared the story of apologist Wesley Huff who shared the gospel on Joe Rogan’s podcast, and then a few months later, I wrote about football coach Joe Kennedy who shared his at this year’s Kingdom Come Conference. These stories showed me that even though most of us will never stand in front of crowds (like Huff) or make headlines (like Kennedy), every faithful act of work can point to something beyond itself. We can create in a way that carries “an aroma that brings life” (2 Cor. 2:15-16 NIV). And when we do that, our work becomes a quiet but steady defense of the faith.
Read more on this topic in my recent article: Your Work Is an Apologetic
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