Work, Rest and Worship

Work is an essential feature of human lives. A person without work is not really living a meaningful life. The nature of work differs from person to person according to age, location, qualification, gender etc. Some drive, some fly, some act, some plough, some teach, some cook – all performing different kinds of work. The immediate outcome of the work differs just as the remuneration for the work differs. For some the work is enjoying; for others, it is not. For some the work brings good health to the person within and without; for some others the work destroys the person within and without. Some work sixteen hours at a stretch and make meagre amount; while some other work for eight hours and make massive amount. The differences notwithstanding, all must work.

The biblical viewpoint on work is that it is God's design. The first human persons were to care for the 'garden'. Caring a 'garden' would involve digging, planting, pruning and so on; and these activities are work. Even today for many people work is not about driving down to the heart of the city and sitting in a climate controlled room before a computer. For most people work would involve physical exertion and sweating. Human life is not just about sleeping and friendship, but also about acquiring hobbies and spending time in recreation. Music, poetry, art, gardening, philosophy, writing, reading etc. are hobbies and recreational activities that enthrall human souls. For the first humans, to care for the garden – or rather, to work in the garden – would have been activities that enthrall their souls. The work was for them God's design to appreciate and enjoy. But with disobedience – the Fall – came the thorns and thistles; harsh life and death. Work would no longer taste sweet and enjoying. However, the message of Christmas brings hope that Jesus came to reverse the effect of disobedience.

The idea of rest and corporate worship on the seventh day is embedded in the Christian Scripture. Six days we are to work; and on the seventh day, take time to rest and also gather together for corporate worship. Work, rest and corporate worship are part and parcel of Christian living.

For an individual Christian, her calling as a follower of Christ is wholesome. Her work and rest that constitute her engagement for most of her time too are part of that wholesome calling. Given that work and rest are God's design, when she performs her work or take rest, she is fulfilling God's design, God's plan. When she drives, cooks, teaches, flies etc., she is pleasing the Lord. For a person who follows Jesus Christ, except for evil deeds, there is no work that is worldly or bad. Shoe polishing, car washing, rice transplanting, bamboo growing etc. are all sorts of human activities that God takes pleasure to see and be pleased. Expression of human worship to God is not only about singing a hymn in the church or to say a prayer for the sick; to worship God includes pleasing God through our work and rest. God takes equal delight in seeing his children come for corporate worship on Sunday and getting back to field the rest of the week.

Take your given work as part of your expression of your worship and devotion to God. If you are a doctor, your spiritual act of worship includes reporting for duty on time and giving treatment to your patients with care; if a cultivator, sowing the seed or harvesting the corn are expressions of one's worship to God; the same principle applies to all sorts activities that we call call as work. Hair cutting may be an activity requiring monetary transaction in certain cities; while it may not be so in other places. Monetary transaction does not strictly informs us what work consists of or otherwise. Activities that are morally good and those that contribute to human flourishing are God ordained and thus please him. Learning to enjoy one's work to please God is as important as learning a hymn to sing to please God.