The State Government in Victoria has undertaken a massive program of removing railway level crossings on its suburban network. We stayed in Melbourne recently for some weeks – right next to such a level-crossing upgrade. My morning walks often took me past the work-site. I came away with two impressions.
The first was the excellent work that’s been done – replacing the level-crossing and its boom-gates with an overpass that now keeps traffic moving and minimises the danger of train accidents. I’m sure that commuters living in the housing estate behind the railway line appreciate their government’s initiative.
The second notable fact was something that I’m sure is common to many such work-sites. Most mornings I could count somewhere around twenty men and women engaged in all kinds of activities – from planting shrubs and trees to preparing another section of concrete footpath. When I say “engaged in all kinds of activities” I use the word ‘engaged’ rather loosely. A fairly typical scene was a group of three or four people chatting, another three or four were watching a worker pin down the boxing for the next concrete pour. I’m firmly convinced that government departments need to hand out awards to those who are best at leaning on their shovels. Okay! Not fair! There were a couple of people waiting to handle traffic control whenever that should prove necessary. However I think you get the point I’m making that at any one time there seemed to be far more observers than actual workers – or were these observers supervisors?!?
It was a sobering reminder that our work too is done in a fallen and broken world. I recall from my days in the factory the very common attitude that we should do as little work as we can get away with. That attitude is a long way removed from what we know as the Christian work ethic. Too many people see their daily work – at worst – as a curse or – at best – as a means of making a living in order to survive. Our view of work has become distorted. And then I haven’t even mentioned the work-a-holic who has made of his business or his career an idol that pushes the Lord God out of the number-one spot in his life.
We live in a culture that desperately needs to recapture something of the Biblical principles that apply to our daily work; our careers; our vocation.
First, let me stress that work is not a curse. Adam and Eve worked before the fall into sin. God had appointed them to be the gardeners in a wonderful Eden Paradise. When our first parents ate of the forbidden fruit it was not work that was cursed. It was the ground that was cursed because of humanity’s sin. That certainly made their work more difficult but it’s perverse to see work as a curse.
A second aspect of the Christian work ethic is that we work because God works. It’s part of what we call being made in God’s image and likeness. God works and we work. God is creative and we are creative. That ought to give us a very positive attitude to our daily work. We were made to serve God in His world for His glory… and we can do that as a bricklayer or as a lawyer, as a garbage collector or as a teacher.
A third aspect of the Christian work ethic that we ought not to forget is the Gospel and its relationship to our daily work. The saving of work of Jesus on the cross, as our sin-bearing substitute, means that our daily work also benefits – and not only from His atoning death but also his wonderful resurrection. Jesus didn’t just come only so that we might be forgiven and get to go to heaven. No! He came to change us and renew us. The Apostle Paul tells us that we died with Christ and were raised to new life with Him. That renewal means we now also have a new attitude to our daily work. I now do my daily work in the assurance that my labours are not meaningless but do indeed serve to bring glory to my Creator.
And then there’s the bonus to think about – our labours here have eternal rewards. In the book of Revelation we read these words: “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord… they will rest from their labours since their works follow them.”
John Westendorp