A Biblical View of Work
If you work 40 hours a week for 40 years, you will spend over 80,000 hours at work. That is a massive chunk of your life, not counting overtime, work brought home, or the years spent in school preparing for your career. Whether you’re a mechanic, a stay-at-home parent, or a corporate professional, work is a central part of human existence.
Many Christians do not have a Biblical theology of work. They feel a real disconnect between Sunday and Monday. Some think that only what they do on Sunday matters to God. The Sunday School class they teach, the ministry they lead, or the sacrifices they make to give to missions are the real reasons they have been placed on this earth. They slog through the workweek thinking God is not interested in their 9-5, so they are not either.
On the other hand, many get more satisfaction out of Monday. What really thrills them is making the sale, boosting the bottom line, and rising up the ranks. They can’t wait to pick up the phone, answer the emails, and get on the job. Work is what they live for. Their marriages, their children, and their churches pay the price.
The good news? God is not silent about how you spend 80,000 hours of your life. The Bible offers a clear perspective on work, starting in Genesis 1-2.
Work is Good.
Genesis 1:1 declares, “In the beginning, God created…” That means in the beginning, there was work. God Himself is the first worker, creating the universe not out of need but for the joy of it.
When He finished creation, He called it “very good” (Genesis 1:31), showing His satisfaction in a job well done. As beings made in His image, we find fulfillment in meaningful work. Unlike leisure, which we can only take in small doses, work is foundational to our purpose. Work is not just about a paycheck; it’s about creating, contributing, and reflecting God’s image.
Work is not God.
While work is good, Genesis 2:15-20 reminds us it’s not ultimate. God gave Adam a great job in the garden, but work alone was not enough to fully satisfy him. God said, “It is not good for man to be alone.” Adam needed a God above Him to worship, the ground beneath Him to work, and a person beside him to love. He needed work, worship, and love, and so do we.
Many today fall into two extremes: being idle in their work. They treat work as meaningless or merely a means to an end. Others make their job an idol, seeking ultimate satisfaction in career success. Despite his Super Bowl rings, Tom Brady once admitted, “There’s gotta be more than this.” No job title or paycheck can satisfy the soul—only God can. Work is vital, but it won’t hold your hand in the hospital or comfort you in loss. It won’t hear your prayers and certainly can’t save you.
Work is a Way to Worship God.
The Bible frames work as a calling, not just a job. In Genesis 2:15, God called Adam to be a gardener. Adam didn’t meditate or preach in the garden. He dressed it and kept it. He got his hands dirty. He plowed, planted, and reaped.
People today talk about their profession, but when our culture was more influenced by the Bible, they spoke of “vocation.” The term “vocation” comes from the Latin word for “calling,” suggesting that every legitimate job, from gardening to carpentry, is a divine assignment.
Adam, Noah, Moses, and even Jesus, who worked as a carpenter for 30 years, show that all work has dignity when done for God’s glory. When we see our work as a calling, it becomes an act of worship, a way to obey and honor God.
Your 80,000 hours of work are not separate from your faith. God designed work to be good but not ultimate. By viewing your job as a calling from God, you will avoid the extremes of idleness and idolatry. You’ll work hard because you see it as an assignment from God. You won’t look for it to save you because Someone has already done that job. Your 9-to-5 matters to God, so use it for his glory. In our next article, we will explore how to show up at work tomorrow and treat it as an act of worship.
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