On being faithful stewards with work

Jun 20

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This is perhaps a more practical teaching, but one I feel needs to really be taught (this is also a bit of a followup to an earlier posting: What is faithfulness?). As Christians, we should be exceptional workers, in whatever occupation God has called us to. As Christians, we should be the most sought after employees, working hard and diligently for our “earthly masters”.

But, we’re also called to do the work of God, because while God has called each of us to a particular occupation at a certain point in time, He has also called each of us to ministry. No, he has not called all of us to be preachers or evangelists or full-time ministry workers, but we all have a ministry. The trick, then, is to balance. Do we forsake God’s work for the sake of a natural occupation, or do we forsake the natural occupation for the sake of God’s work?

I believe the answer is neither. God has called us to be good stewards — both of career and calling. We are to be faithful in our natural work, and faithful in our spiritual work. So the real answer is there needs to be balance (unless, of course, your career is also your calling, such as with full-time ministers).

I believe that, even as Paul preached and did miraculous things, yet still worked, we need to do the same. The key is balance, but before someone thinks this is a message about balancing TV and prayer, or balancing video games and reading the Word, I think when it comes to worldly pursuits of recreation (sports, games, TV, whatever), there is no call to be balanced. You can completely forsake those pursuits, or enjoy a game of golf, or go to a hockey game, etc. and still be unbalanced because you’re feeding on the Word, praying, and going to church — that is a healthy unbalancing. This isn’t supporting “balance” in terms of going to church on Sunday and staying home to watch the hockey game on TV instead of going to church Sunday night (i.e. “honey, we’ve been to church already so let’s stay home and watch the game… we need balance after all!”). Not at all. This is strictly talking about balance of calling (ministry) and career (occupation) because God wants us to work. We weren’t created to have recreation, we were created to work.

The first thing in the Bible that tells us about the nature of God is that He works — He created the heavens and the earth. As early as Genesis 1:3, God is working. God created man with a “dominion mandate” or a call to work:

“Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”” (Gen 1:28, NKJV)

The first words out of God’s mouth to Adam and Eve were that they should work!
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