A New Groundwork: Finding Joy in Your Daily Work

 

Remember Euclid? If you ever took geometry, you remember him and his predecessor Pythagoras. If you’ve ever gone to see a doctor, you’ve seen a reflection of Hippocrates, who coined the Hippocratic Oath that every doctor takes still to this day. How about Plato, Aristotle and Socrates? Much of our modern world traces its roots to ancient Greece. It doesn’t take much searching in literature, drama, philosophy or art to see glimpses of ancient Greek influence. Even our democracy stems from the ancient Greek belief in the rights of people to govern themselves. But what about work? Do we share the ancient Greek’s understanding of work?

People in the United States work more hours per week than almost any other people on earth. Getting ahead often requires toiling long hours for many years. And with the ability now to work virtually from home, it seems that we are able and willing to work more than ever before. But this is nothing like the world of the ancient Greeks.

The Work of the Soul: Labor in Ancient Greece

The Greeks viewed work as a distraction. The highest calling was contemplation, and anything that got in the way of that was something the Greeks sought to avoid. They wanted to break free from the body, not spend time laboring within it. Working long hours was no badge of honor in ancient Greece. It was a sign of a person’s inability to achieve. The highest degree of humanity was a life free of burdensome work because, as Plato said, “Being in the body hampers the soul in its quest for truth” (p.45). Escaping the physical world was the highest aspiration of the ancient Greeks. This is why the gods of ancient Greece didn’t dwell among the people and their daily tasks. They lived far away from the material world and all of its chores.

The Soul at Work: Labor According to God’s Word

The Scriptures tell an entirely different story. God is described as working. God creates everything with His own hands. The skies, the oceans, the earth and all of its living creatures; everything is the result of God’s labor. Genesis describes God as a gardener who finds purpose and pleasure in forming the soil. The Greek notion of a distant, intellectual god is gone, replaced by a hands-on, personal God who calls his people by name and creates them in His own image. If God were to come into the world in the days of Ancient Greece, theologian Phillip Jensen notes, “…He might have been a philosopher-king. The ancient Romans might have looked for a just and noble statesman. But how does the God of the Hebrews come into the world? As a carpenter” (p.49).

Why? Because the Scriptures maintain that work is sacred. Scripture makes clear that, as creatures made in the image of God, we have the opportunity to reflect a piece of that image in everything that we do, no matter what it is. “Whatever you do,” Paul wrote to the Colossians, ”work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord.” (Colossians 3:23, NIV)  Paul challenges us to find a way to reveal, through our work, who it is that God has made us to be for ourselves and each other. “Let him labor,” Paul wrote, “performing with his own hands what is good, in order that he may have something to share with him who has need.” (Ephesians 4:28) The point is that in whatever we do, if we can find a way for it to have meaning beyond ourselves, we have found a way for it to have meaning in God’s created order.  And to do this, is to be able to find true and lasting joy in our work, whatever it may be. As the author of Ecclesiastes put it, “There is nothing better for a person than to enjoy their work, because that is their lot.” (Eccl. 3:22).

Finding Joy in Your Work Through Christian Counseling

If you are struggling to find joy in your work, Seattle Christian Counseling can help you. If you are unhappy with your lot, we are here to provide you the guidance you need to regain a sense of meaning and purpose in your work.  Like Jesus himself, who said, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” (John 5:17), we all get up and go to work every day. If your work gets you down, Seattle Christian Counseling can help you find an understanding of that work that will bring enhanced meaning and purpose to your life.

 

References
Principles from Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God’s Work by Timothy Keller

 

Photos
Freedigitalphotos.ner “Ancient Ruins in Delphi” by thephotoholic and “Young Male Business Executive” by stockimages