Our Work; What Value Is It?
If you're like me, residing in western culture, then chances are your employment provides you a wage which is far beyond the average worker's wage in the rest of the world's population.
Should we feel guilty about that? God's word says there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8: 1) We have been set free from the law which brings death! So the answer is, no we shouldn't feel guilty about making a good wage.
Should we partake in a rebellion that would seek to overthrow the system in order to make it fair for those people who are suffering oppression in other nations and cultures? Absolutely not! Jesus doesn't start wars, He makes peacemakers instead.
The questions being asked of you and I today are these:
If we awoke tomorrow and found that our earning potential fell well below the accepted poverty line in our nation, would we value what we're doing for a living? If suddenly you or I found that our work wasn't valued by society as being worth a wage that would provide excessive luxuries - (large homes,cars, vacations, cottages, boats, and enough food to pack on excessive weight for us and our entire families) would we even want to do our jobs anymore; would we even consider it work?
What if it got worse than that? What if the drop in our wages required us to reduce our material possessions by 95%? What if the drop in our wages left our wives and children wanting so much more than we could provide? What if all we had left were the bare provisions of God's sovereign Hand? What if it was our turn to eat manna for 40 years? Would we value our work at all in such a circumstance? Would we consider the living bread, sent from heaven, our Lord Jesus Christ, as being enough?
Why do we do, what we do?
Does Jesus Christ call us to live the American Dream?
Really read through the gospels. Jesus says lots of things about living for Him and eternity. Jesus says lots of things about denying self, even to the point that we would forfeit ownership of our most precious relationships; and if they conflicted with Him and His will, that we would set loose those people closest to our hearts in favor of Him.
Does Jesus tell us to work diligently to save up our resources?
Matthew 6: 19-21, Luke 12: 13-34
Does Jesus tell us to be cautious in our thinking as we plan for our tomorrow? Or does Jesus call us to die to our plans and ourselves... and follow Him now? Which kingdom does Jesus promote?
Let us read the gospels and see what the Lord tells us in His word on this subject. And if He speaks to us on the matter, may we not look around at what others are doing, but look up instead, and be obedient to Him alone!
What must it have been like for Noah to work so hard on a task that seemed to the rest of the world to have no purpose and no value at all? What did Jesus' life look like to the clean, organized, and religious people of His time? The most challenging part of the question is, that the Jesus of the Bible is the same today as He ever was.
How would His life look, lived out today, in our culture and our time?
May God give us grace and peace to live out our lives, willing to suffer the cost of following Jesus Christ, with love for His glory!
Amen.