Work to Do Good

Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.

Ephesians 4:28

Why should you work? Beyond obvious answers like, “To earn money so I can eat,” there are deeper biblical reasons. In yesterday’s Life for Leaders devotion, we saw that we were created by God for work. We should work because that’s why we exist, at least in part. Today, we’ll consider another answer to the “Why work?” question.

Ephesians 4:28 says that thieves (and by obvious implication, all people) “must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.” The NIV translation gets the basic sense of the verse but it misses key nuances. Consider, for example, the phrase “doing something useful with their own hands.” The original Greek could be translated more literally, “working with their own hands that which is good [to agathon].” The Greek word agathos can mean “useful,” as in the NIV rendering, but it suggests something more. In Ephesians 2:10, God has created us in Christ “to do good [agathois] works.” Romans 8:28 promises, “And we know that in all things God works for the good [agathon] of those who love him.” In Mark 10:18, Jesus says, “No one is good [agathos] – except God alone.”

In many ways our work is useful, as the NIV puts it. But the worth of our work goes far beyond some temporary benefit or practical result. Usefulness just doesn’t capture the depth of what Ephesians conveys here. The more important point is that, through our work, we are able to contribute a bit of goodness to the world. Why work? Because we can do good through our work.

Now, of course some kinds of work are not good. Thievery, for example, does not add goodness to the world. Yet, when we do work that reflects God’s design for life, when our work serves others, when our work enhances community and culture, then it has value because of the goodness it contributes. Our work is good in part because what it accomplishes is good.

At this point, some of us might be tempted to discount the goodness our own work produces because it isn’t large in scope. What we do doesn’t seem to add up to much. But God is not interested so much in the quantity of our accomplishment as in its quality. Remember the story known as the Widow’s Mite. Though wealthy people had given large amounts to the temple, Jesus said a poor widow’s tiny gift counted as more than what the others had given because she “put in everything” (Mark 12:43-44).

But the greatest testimony to the value of ordinary work comes from Jesus himself. After all, he was God in human flesh, the Word of God Incarnate. What did he do with the majority of his waking hours as an adult? He didn’t rule over nations. He didn’t command mighty armies. He didn’t build a grand temple. No, Jesus worked in virtual anonymity as a craftsman in a small village in the countryside. He built tables, chairs, and walls. In human terms, what he did didn’t add up to much. But Jesus was being faithful, honoring his Father in heaven through doing good work, even if it was relatively small in scope.

So it is with our work. What you do today might contribute goodness to thousands of lives, or it may make a very small difference to one other person, or it may be a tiny part of a giant project. Nevertheless, you work because you can do good and this matters profoundly to God. He receives the goodness of your work as worship.

Something to Think About:

In what ways does your work, whatever kind of work it might be, add to the goodness of the world? Can you offer your work to the Lord today, as an act of worship?

Prayer:

Gracious God, again I thank you for creating me with a capacity for work. Help me, Lord, to see and value the goodness my work produces. May I offer this goodness to you, even as the widow once gave all she had to you for the temple offering. Thank you for receiving my work as worship and for delighting in it and in me. Amen.

Explore more at The High Calling archive, hosted by the Theology of Work Project:
The Widow’s Mite