Called to Do God's Work
Called to Do God’s Work
What is work? There are many definitions for “work”. As defined
by Miriam-Webster Dictionary, work is “1: activity in which one exerts strength
or faculties to do or perform something: a. sustained physical or mental effort
to overcome obstacles and achieve an objective or result; b. the labor, task or
duty that is one’s accustomed means of livelihood; c. a specific task, duty or
function, or assignment often being a part of or phase of some larger activity…”
In this journal, I would like to briefly discuss about work that is referring
to labor, task or duty linked to the means of livelihood.
1. Work
as Job
“Study hard in
order to get good job in the future” – this is what we were taught when we were
young since good job means good pay also. I definitely agree that people need
to work in order to earn a living to feed their family and buy their needs and
wants. But, if we view work as just being equivalent to job, tendency is that we
just want to satisfy our physiological and safety needs, the first 2 lowest
levels in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, since we are only valuing work for being
the source of economic income and eventually security (financial, health, etc.).
There is nothing wrong with this mentality, except that there is much greater
possibility of individualism and selfishness among humans if we only think work
as equivalent to job because eventually people tend to fall into the sense of “survival
of the fittest”. There is no much sense of involvement and self-initiatives
among workers, as long as they are being paid and secured of tenure. In addition,
employers think that the only motivation of workers is higher pay regardless of
the hazards the work may cause to the workers.
2. Work
as Career
When
we view work as equivalent to career, we are satisfying 2 higher levels of
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs which are belongingness and esteem. Here, we view
work as our source of pride and leadership. We aspire for the highest job positions
that we can get because we want to be identified by the society for our
achievements and capabilities, hence we strive to be more competent and skillful.
Of course, higher achievements also translate to higher pay. The society may
benefit if we think this way because better output (products and services) will
result. However, similar to number 1 above, the possibility of individualism
and selfishness among humans is still not answered by this mentality since workers
may fight among themselves and pull each other down, just to be highlighted and
get to the top of the companies to satisfy their esteem.
3. Work
as Vocation and Giving
For me, thinking
work as a vocation and as a way of giving is the most important mentality of
all because with this, we can ultimately satisfy the highest level of Maslow’s
hierarchy of needs. We can achieve self-actualization if we only work not only
for the benefit of one’s self but also for the benefit of others because the tendency
is for us to naturally perform to the best that we can without any greed,
hesitation nor anxiety for the love and benefit of others. We view work as a
way to deliver our service to others. In return, we gain everything. We earn
the income, position, respect, and most of all, love of others. The sense of
fulfillment in providing service to others is greater than the economic return.
When we serve others through work, we help contribute to the growth of the
society, thus, we are effectively serving God at all.
In fact, if we
will consult what the Bible is teaching, we can find out there is really a
higher and divine purpose on why man needs to work. In the Book of Genesis, it
is stated that God created man to cultivate the ground. The very purpose why
human beings exist is because God has created them to serve Him by taking care
of all His creations – environment, living creatures, including animals and
especially fellow human beings. Man has been called by God to His work;
therefore, we can conclude that man should be serving not himself alone but
God, who is man’s one and only master. This idea is further supported by Jesus
Christ when He taught His disciples that “no servant can serve two masters; for
either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to
one and despise the other, you cannot serve God and wealth.” (Luke 16:3)
I believe that it’s hard to work.
Who wants burden and hardships, right? But instead of complaining and cursing
work, I suggest 2 ways in order to appreciate work:
1. Understand
the purpose why man needs to work and what work can bring to the society. By
doing work, we can preserve the beauty of nature and improve human lives
through abundant high-quality goods and services. Without work, man will be
idle and useless. But through work, man is dignified since the full potential
of being a human is maximized only by doing work because humans are created by
God primarily to work.
2. Find
balance between work and life. With technologies become more advanced, market
competition becomes more intense, and so do workload of employees become even
more burdensome. In times like this, it is very advisable that workers find
time to rest, spend quality time with families and interact with other social
beings. The key is proper time management. Working without rest makes a worker
dull, thus, unproductive in the long run. Overwork also produces harm to the
health of workers and reduces the workers’ appetite and motivation towards work.
1.
Texts
Luke 16:3 – New American Standard Bible
2.
Images
www.thedoctorscoach.co.uk
posted by Unknown @ 6:51 PM
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