
The Believer and His Work-Pastor Misheck Mbevi
Definition of Work
Dictionaries define work as an activity that involves some mental or physical effort in order to achieve a purpose or result. It is also a mental or physical activity done as a means of earning income — employment. To work, therefore, is to be engaged in a physical or mental activity in order to achieve a purpose or result.
But we must go beyond the dictionary to a biblical definition of work. God himself is a worker. And because we are created in his image and likeness, we must take his nature and character. We work because God works.
Work, therefore, includes many different aspects of life through which we actively live out our vocation as Christians. This includes both paid and unpaid work, work at home, in the community and the marketplace.
The Bible speaks more about our Monday to Saturday that it does about our Sunday. And from the biblical storyline–Genesis to Revelation–it is evident that God wants us to not only have the right view of work, but to become true workers.
Three important truths must guide us:
1. All Humans are Created to Work.
In Genesis 1, we meet God, the creator of universe, as a worker.
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1).
In fact, we, humans, are the work of God’s hands:
“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them” (Gen. 1:27).
But we are more than products of God’s craftsmanship, we are God’s image
— and that means expressing that image bearing through our work. That’s why in the next sentence it says:
“And God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion…’” (Gen. 1:28).
God blessed them–but he blessed them for work. To be “fruitful and multiply,” to “fill the earth and subdue it,” and to “have dominion.”
Right at the foundation of God’s creational purpose and calling is for human beings to be engaged in productive work. Later on, God places Adam in a Garden…
“The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” Gen. 2:15
When we work, we live into God’s design as his image-bearers. Our present work might be a mixed bag of both good and bad. Frustration and fulfillment. But we must understand that work is God’s design for us. We were created to work. Even before sin came. Of course, to be a human being is more than being a worker, but work is at the heart of what defines our primary calling and purpose in the earth. Whether we receive a pay check or not — a biblical and theological understanding of work is far more comprehensive than an economic transaction.
In God’s original design we must not have this Sunday-to-Monday gap. All our life is lived before the creator God — our father. And is an act of worship. We don’t worship work, but we worship through work.
- This is an excerpt from a Young Professionals Forum Lesson-

