Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.” Genesis 1:28 (NLT)
”The
Lord
God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.”
Genesis 2:15
Genesis 2:15
Immediately
after “creating human beings in his own image” (Genesis 1:27), God blesses
them.
What does God bless them with?
Two tasks to accomplish!
As partners with God and God’s representatives on earth, humans are to
continue building the thriving, flourishing, vibrant world of life on planet
earth that the previous verses describe.
The
first task was to multiply and fill the earth, essentially to reproduce and grow
God’s family, the family for which God had built the home in which God and his
children (us) were to dwell.
Task
two was to govern, subdue, reign, rule over, depending on the translation. They
are “work” words.
Human beings are given the vocation, the calling of
making a flourishing society out of the raw material of the home which God
provided for us.
Whether one’s task is sweeping the floor, or running a fortune 500
company, all work has dignity, all work matters, and all work is a reflection of
the image of God.
Of course if your work contributes to the decay of society, your work, to
the degree that it inhibits God’s purposes, loses its dignity.
My
reading of these texts tells me that your work matters.
It is holy, sacred, and reflects the image of God.
These texts tell me that you were built to work, that unless you work
(somehow living your purpose as a co-builder with God of a God honoring and
people honoring society regardless of your life circumstance, you cannot be what
you were created to be.
You were made in God’s image, part of which is work, and without work
you cannot live into the image of God in which you were created.
Every
time I think that my work is just a job, or that work is a necessary evil or
that work is something to get out of, or that my working is unnecessary if I
have enough money, or that work should be easy, I am denigrating the image of
God in me.
Of
course all of the above is easier said than done.
What to do?
Know
that what you believe drives everything you do, and all your attitudes.
Choose to believe, to believe that
. . . . well, read the box below.
Take it to work with you.
Remind yourself of these biblical truths.
Reflect on them.
And let them shape your days as you enter them.
For
more:
follow on Twitter @jefflampl
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