“As if a job title and salary were the sole measure of human
worth” – Bill Watterson.
Bill Watterson, the mind behind the famed Calvin and
Hobbes comic, highlighted a fact of life that I believe is quite universal to
those of us who work and perhaps haven’t found our true passion. (Which based
on my sampling is a good bunch of us.) It is nice to see my dreams of playing
on a hill realized in a comic and I hope one day that I will. Sometimes it
feels like life starts when work ends. And that the majority of our time we
dedicate each day to work is simply the payment for having a few hours of life
every day and the weekends to waste away. We’re taught that mindset is wrong,
and not because we should enjoy work, but rather because we have to keep
climbing the corporate ladder and have the future promise of wealth and safety
be our only goal. In interacting with my coworkers I see the reality of that
mindset, to keep working and socializing and blurring the lines of the 9-5 so
that each day is a new opportunity to get ahead and seem in control of what we
are really doing.
Having since turned 25 this topic has been on my mind
quite a bit. When I first started working I didn't think I would ever struggle
with the idea of success and salary, in particular since I was really just
trying to be employed my focus was rather short termed. But having worked for a
few years I do indeed feel the call to make work my life, and to be in
competition for that promotion and salary and all the niceties the come with
it. There is such temptation everyday not only to do extra work but to get
ahead of co-workers and make nice to the bosses. And all for the goal of being
successful, having a nice car & house, and living the dream that had always
been promised. And above all I dream of freedom, to have the title that will
let me set my work hours, to choose what I want to do, and to call the shots on
what I want to pursue. To be able to retire young and do whatever it is I want
without a boss or someone watching over my back all the time.
And I don’t think this is limited to just my career or
salary. I've been finding out that there are so many things I define my own
success and failures by that are apart from Christ. So many things that society
views as valuable and I copy to try and fit in, to try and emulate a sense of
belonging. And when I don’t have them I am crushed. I can’t sleep. I spend
wasted hours dreaming of being one of the cool kids with the nice job and great
friendships. Isn't that ridiculous? I dream of having the perfect friendships,
the ones that you see on TV where everybody is happy, as if there was ever such
a thing. What they don’t tell you is that when the camera turns off, there are
real people with real problems and real scars that need the love and care of
fellowship in their weakness and pain. Who are in need of a Savior.
God had intended something else for us. But with sin we
found it impossible to achieve the reality of what had been promised. Instead
we stumble around in this shadow of what should be, trying to dig our way
through the mess that has become work, life, friendship, and ultimately our faith.
But in the midst of what the world is telling us to do, we have the clear voice
of God commanding us to actually follow after Him instead, and letting us know
that it’s all going to be alright.
I believe in the promise that in Heaven the work we will
be assigned by God will be perfectly satisfying and fulfilling. Back in college
I used to think that Heaven meant we wouldn't have to do any work and could
just lay around enjoying God’s glory, but I figured if mostly all the Biblical
characters worked very hard to fulfill their calling in God that it had to be
somehow tied to what God intends for us in the future. And that is not to say
that all the work we do now is futile, but rather that the common reasons for why
we work are. There is meaning to be found in doing a job that can provide for
your family, that can support missionaries in the World, and that can help the
poor and in need. What distinguishes godly work from pointless work is that in
whatever we do we do it for God. That besides those who are clearly seen
working in the church there are those that work quietly in the back and
sidelines, doing what God has called them to. For God had called all of us to
certain duties, as in the parable of the talents, people were given different
amounts and expected to produce with what they had and not to compare with how
many that other guy/gal started with.
Meaning isn't found in being happy in this world. It
isn't found in the wisdoms that tell us to work hard now so we can rest later,
or to find the spouse that will make you most happy. 1 Corinthians tells us
that the wisdom of God confounds the world and is a stumbling block to those
who can’t accept it. But to us that have been called, it is salvation and peace
and joy. Meaning is found in following faithfully after God every day. To see
the choices before us and pick the one that is a life of serving others and
bearing our cross. To realize that the people in our lives are not to ignored
for the sake of wanting better, but rather here to support and bear with each
other in the road to Christ.
Faith doesn't die in a great sudden explosion of
realization that there is no God. It isn't suddenly changed when someone
provides a great argument against Jesus. I believe faith dies in the slow stumbling
death of everyday submission to the world. Something subtle but surely enough
stone by stone our foundation is torn away until one day we find we no longer
walk with Christ. And so each new day by the strength of God we should follow
faithfully after Him and build up the foundation that Christ has provided that we
might be protected from the temptations of the enemy. I think ultimately, we
are called each day to be bold with the gospel. To follow almost recklessly
after the conviction God has placed in our hearts, trusting that He’ll provide
by grace what we can’t achieve by our hands. And whether or not we succeed at
the end of the day, we will always know there is a loving Father to welcome us
home.
