A THEOLOGY OF WORK
We all know what it's like workin' for the weekends. Long, monotonous, and dreadful days at work, just so we can afford to do what we want to do for that brief gap of time we call, the weekend. Hopefully all of us can reject this way of living, but if we are honest, many of us are prisons. We hate our jobs, our bosses, our 40-60 hours a week existence (unless we are one of those extra lucky American corporate slaves doing a sentence of 60-80 hrs/wk). And vacation? Forget about it! It happens too infrequently. And when it does, it's too short! We return broke, and often more tired and stressed then when we left! True rest during vacation is so elusive. Trying to suck every moment of our vacation out like the marrow of our favorite chicken wing, worried that we will miss some opportunity, anxious about the piles of work that await us when we return, and concerned for the lack of budgeting we did in preparation for this extravagant expenditure of money. We can thank Adam for all of this. For that is where this curse started (Gen 3:17-19). And interestingly, at some point along the way, during the feminist movement perhaps, Eve decided that her curse wasn't enough (Gen 3:16) and that it wasn't equal, so she decided to take on the enjoyment of Adam's curse and pointlessly toil by the sweat of her own brow as well. So it's understandable that our work is largely not enjoyable, and that we often feel that we are not accomplishing much, and that when we do it's short lived, for we must quickly hurry up to the next one. The reason we don't except this is that we have bought into the false dream that we can escape this. If we just found the right job. Find just the right team to be a part of. Get just enough and the right assortment of degrees, then we can escape this curse. If only I made more money, I could escape this curse! Are you sure? (Ecc 5:10) Accepting a proper theology of work will help us day-to-day, week-to-week. Our goal should not be to simply escape the curse by propping ourselves up with hurried rest, extravagant and exotic vacations, consuming entertainment by the tons, but instead by numbering our days aright (Ps 39:4; 90:12) so that we can except the truth: work in this life is hard. Rather than try with all our measly efforts to circumvent this, rather let's humbly praise God for the fact that he gives us hope of a day in which the curse will be lifted (Rev 21:4). Let's learn to have a heart of wisdom by numbering our days aright, and enjoy our work more by leaning into the pain, rather than fleeing from it.