By Not Known
What do we think of when we read the words “The Worship of Work“?
Perhaps we think of work becoming an act of idolatry that replaces God.
Work can be an idol and an act of false worship. Our longest and best hours are often spent at work, to the neglect of God, family and our need for rest. Success or failure at work can drive our deepest feelings of significance. Our personal values are easily skewed as we are pressured to meet the employers’ standards.
Most of us would say that we don’t want our work to become an idol and that we do not worship our work. However, do our deeds match our words? The relentless pressure for Singapore to be economically competitive and financially secure means that work easily becomes the centre of our lives and God is pushed to the margins. This is worshipping work and it is just one expression of the way in which sin disfigures all work.
But we can read the words another way. Our Work can became an act of worshipping the true God.
In the beginning God worked (Gen 1:1; 2:2). He appointed us to manage his creation as one expression of bearing his image (Gen 1: 23-28). He tells us to work and care for his creation (Gen 2: 15). And, all this happened before sin came into the world.
This means that work is meant to be an act of worship. This is more than having our quiet time at the workplace (but not on work time!), being honest, resisting temptation or even evangelising work mates.
It means that our very act of work is a participation in God’s work of creation and an expression of the true humanity that bears and reflects his image in all that we are and do.
Sadly, sin distorts the worship of work as much as it also affects all else that we do. Instead of being joyful, fulfilling and holy, our work becomes joyless, meaningless and a spiritual battle. And sometimes it even becomes the idol discuss above.
Whethere our work is to study, to be an unpaid carer, to pay or to be in paid employment – let’s thank God for it and make it an act of worship.