We’ve seen that from the very beginning, work was made to be good part of life. It’s part of God’s life, Jesus’ life, and now we see it was meant to be part of our life.
In Genesis 2:1-15
[5] When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, [6] and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground—[7] then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. [8] And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. [9] And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Then in v. [15] The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
We were created to work…it’s not something added in after the fact.
After creating, and caring for his creation, God commissions workers to continue that care.
We’re the only part of creation given a job description. Other animals will simply multiply, but humans are commanded to fill the earth. Not to just reproduce like bunnies, but to do this intentionally. We see this in how humans have developed civilizations and societies.
Here we see humans are in the garden to work and keep it. Earlier in the creation story, it says humans were to rule the earth – sounds violent – but can’t be since this is before rebellion and sin added violence into our world. We were meant to steward the earth’s resources – like an investment professional cares for others’ money. Make it grow, last, and be useful.
We also see two kinds of work – this isn’t just about paid work outside the home – filling the earth involves manual labour, civilization building, and raising families.
This explains why we need work: I knew someone who never needed to work because of a disability, but still dreamt of working hard. Or consider those out of work, they can so easily become depressed unless they find some kind of meaningful work, whether it’s paid or not, job searching or a hobby.
This is why so many of you answered on Facebook you wouldn’t stop working, but you might change how you work.
Question: Have you ever been out of work? What was it like? How did you cope – did it involve a different kind of work?
Acknowledgements: Tim Keller, Every Good Endeavour and Work & Rest
Loading Content...
Share a Link to this Message
The link has been copied to your clipboard; paste it anywhere you would like to share it.
It can be very hard to find rest in our world. Between a Blackberry, kids, the home phone and social media, it can be hard to focus on anything, much less rest.
One study found that people who are interrupted by technology score 20 percent lower on a standard cognition test. A second demonstrated that some students, even when on their best behavior, can't concentrate on homework for more than two minutes without distracting themselves by using social media or writing an email.
We always wonder what we’re missing, what we should be doing, even when we’re supposed to be resting. With technology, we don’t have to suppress that – we can always know, we can always be available.
People say it’s harder and harder to unplug.
Even as I wrote this, I found myself turning to all kinds of distractions – it’s always when I try to focus on writing that I decide some amazing new change needs to be made to the app or social media. This makes it hard to work and rest – I’m constantly blending the two, and doing neither well as a result.
For this year’s vacation, I committed to turning my smartphone off, and only checking in once a day to make sure things are running smoothly with Redeem the Commute. I’ll have to physically make sure my phone isn’t around, because I know I’ll be tempted otherwise.
But that isn’t a foolproof formula – I can always go get my smartphone if I get too curious. Find rest can’t just be about strategies – because our problem is inside us. There is something inside me that is still wanting to check email, check the news, etc.
We’ll explore what that is, and what to replace it with this week.
Question: How do you “unplug” and rest? What strategies do you use?
Just in time for summer's blend of work and rest, Redeem the Commute is starting a new series of daily challenges to help busy people restore life to the commuting lifestyle. This seven week series will look at the meaning and purpose of work, rest, and ancient practices that have helped followers of Jesus to keep the two in perspective and balance for centuries.
