Following human limited patterns to discover answers to questions, what would one offer to argue for acceptance by God? How may I satisfy myself that I have done what I ought to do to gain approval from God? There are variant interpretations for the issue – both natural and supernatural. One is what I become, in and of myself. This is separate from anything else in analysis, but integral in the fact that there is a unity, if not violated, in each person that includes all that he or she is and does. In final summary, God does not permit us to compartmentalize our persons. For purpose here, to analyze, we are concerned with the identifiables. If I were to list what God wants of me, for his approval, what would that check list include? It would not be a long list, but it would be sufficiently complete that I can rely on his award. If I am faithful to my creation, this is good – to and for me. Affirmatively accomplished, it would commend my person to God. The list would include work in my time of natural life. God defines that context in the Bible especially in many passages of illustration from lives, in both affirmative and negative models.
In summary that work of God’s accepted person includes any conduct, appropriate to God that advances the application of righteousness to personal and social life. That general statement is supported by several sub-statements related to it: 1) – the care and nurture of family which includes responsibility to parents and relatives on one side, and to mate and children on the other; 2) – the duty to society for the resources, education and integrity needed for peace and prosperity; 3) – the responsibility of faith and concern to labor for purpose for an employer, or to work for the benefit of those engaged as employees in the demanding order for everyday life; 4) – the commission to live/communicate the gospel of God, in the redemptive work and love of Jesus Christ. This is achieved through the care of the Holy Spirit, in prayer, in Scripture, in modeling, in teaching, in any legitimate procedure that is effective to the divine purpose for mankind.
Work is garbled in history and current society. It is made the punishment of slaves or in trade for wages to hourly indenture. It is made the fodder of the unenlightened for greed, for undue profit, for special benefit. It becomes degrading in divining evaluation of persons doing tasks that are lesser than the tasks of others. Part of the degradation is the attachment of excessive award for some tasks and less than subsistence awards for others. Both the rich and the poor appear to miss the meaning of divine work, and the awards attached to it. The worker tends to relate the value of his or her work to the monetary award: the rich person tends to relate award to the general opinion of the work, which becomes false substitute for God’s ordination of it.
All work needed by mankind for legitimate purpose, holds within it the seeds of dignity. The persons performing those tasks, great and small, make the worker noble in the context of the event and experience. That, in turn, becomes cause for God to award something to the persons completing noble service to God by serving mankind. God doesn’t need anything, so he moves virtuous acts (work that benefits mankind in some way) to human benefit, and credits those who serve him through serving human beings. Even unknowingly he/she is in truth related to this responsibility. In the denomination I long have served there was, at the beginning, Sophie, the scrub woman. Sophie never doubted her profession, the cleaning of floors in the homes of wealthy families. She sometimes sat on the platform with the president of the church group she supported. She sometimes gave two estimates to her clients for her excellent work. She would do the job for nothing if the employer would give a specified amount to Christian missions. Her personal fee was lower if that is what they preferred. Even much of that found its way to the mission field. Sophie was noble, following apostolic counsel. For the Christian any service to the good of mankind should not be done in the main motive for the personal value (wage) received. It is not to be measured by the reputation of the work, but the faithfulness in performing it. In this philosophy of work is found one of the chief differences in that which is of God (spiritual) and that which is of mankind (human). As a Christian I am comforted in that whatever work I engaged was not in the salary/wage. Our work is all that we can give in practical measurement to the life and resources of God’s creation. Our own performance is the only one that we should judge in the light of God’s menu for approved life. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020