Happier Are Those Who Work

The following video transcript has been lightly edited

Hi. Do you know that you were created to work? Part of us being happy, whole human beings is finding meaningful work. Whether it's being a CEO or a nurse or a teacher or an Uber driver, whatever that might be, there is an ideal work scenario out there for you.

Now, the challenge is, is that we all often think that there's only certain kinds of work. We have this ideal job, and if we could just get that ideal job, if we could just be the CEO, then everything would be great. But what's interesting is that each person really is designed to work in different ways. For the person who thinks that the CEO job could be the ideal job, what they might discover is that the sacrifice and the hours that it takes and the toll it takes on them personally and their family isn't actually all that it's cracked up to be.

Meanwhile, that same person might discover that being an Uber driver is the most life giving opportunity for them because it allows them to serve others and do something that they enjoy. But here's the truth for all of us, whether it's being a homemaker, a teacher, working in a hospital, a business executive, whatever it might be, each of us are designed to work.

And that's the story we're told in Genesis 2. Genesis 2 is a creation account, a story about really why the world was designed and how it operates. It's not a scientific account, but it gives us a picture of who we are as human beings. And so God creates humanity and places them in creation. And the problem, before humans existed, is that there was no one to care for the land.

So God creates humanity to care for the land and gives them all the tools to cultivate it. And so what we see here is that there isn't spiritual things and unspiritual things, what we see is a whole world in which all things are spiritual and human beings placed in it. To be good workers, to cultivate, and to create.

And this, of course, is the form of the priesthood. And this is what a priesthood is all about. It's about working in the world and reflecting the world back to God and God to the world. And this is the purpose we see sketched out in Genesis 2.

And so, through the biblical story, what we see is that that goes awry, and then God uses Israel to be this new priesthood. And that goes awry, and then Jesus comes and completes that, and so now the church is a royal priesthood, as Peter talks about. But here's the truth for each of us. You and I were created to work. We're created to cultivate. We're created to build. We're created to care for others. We have to know ourselves to understand what it might look like for us to do that well.

Each of us is different. And you should feel free to pursue the work that would make you happiest. And so for some of us, that's going to be having a significant career that tells us a lot about what we do. And so vocations such as pastors and teachers and academics and business executives. Meanwhile there are others in which what they want to do is they want to be able to have a daily activity to serve and care for people.

And so whether that's being a waiter in a restaurant or delivering the mail Or operating a school bus. Each of these things can be ways in which we find significant meaning in work. Because work at its best is us creating, cultivating, and caring for all of creation. The people, the land, all of it. Because that's who we were designed to be.

Now, there's a danger, while we will be happier when we can find meaningful work, there's a danger that each of us has to look out for. And that's work becoming everything in our life, or work becoming something that we think we could avoid. So the work is everything place is the part of us in which we begin to take too much of our identity, too much of our self worth, in what we've accomplished, how we've succeeded.

And this will eat away at our humanity because while we're meant to do meaningful work, we're not meant to be only about work. And so each of us who might be more drawn to work and to cover up our mishaps and our challenges through work, to hide from other parts of our life, we have to set boundaries.

We have to say, I'm designed to work, but I'm not designed to work all the time. And this, again, is what we see in the story of Genesis, where God creates and God rests. And then God tells us, as human beings, that we are created. And we are to work, but we are also to rest. And so, that is the rhythm we have to build.

Now, some of us fall into the different category. We have this myth that if we could only retire, if we could only get to this place where we weren't responsible to do any work at all, then our life would be happiest. Then we would have meaning. But, retired people struggle often with meaning and purpose, because what they found through their job was it gave them a community, it gave them work, it gave them a way to serve people. And now they don't know how to do that, and so it's a reminder to us that while we might not get paid for it, we all are best when we are still working.

And so what might that be for you? Remember, you don't have to fit a certain narrative, but you have to understand how were you were created and what does it look like for you to cultivate, to create and to serve others.

You can do that in a variety of ways. So find the place that's for you, trust your gut and lean into it. Adjust the economics to enable it because you'll be happier if you're doing something at work that is meaningful. Don't let work dominate your life.

So, we're created to work. We have to guard against work dominating us, whether it's out of wanting to avoid it or it becoming the only thing we are about.

And lastly, we have to recognize that the way we work matters. My favorite definition of work is that it makes love visible. And I love this because it reminds us that how we work, the way we work, is important. And this, of course, again, is tied to the story in Genesis. So in Genesis, the world is created and humanity is created to fulfill a purpose.

To be an expression, an image bearer of the God of love, therefore, our work should reflect love. Now, how do we do that? Well, we can do it in a variety of ways. The way we care for people, certainly, both in our work, with our colleagues, to our customers, to the people we care for and serve, that's a way to express work.

But also, the work can be something very simple. I love to cook. One of the reasons I love to cook is it's a way to care for my family. It's a way to gather them around the table and have conversation. Cooking is a way that we can make love visible. And so whatever it is you do, whether it's volunteering at a school, in a church, in the community, whether it's caring and cultivating your home, whether it's about you going out into the workplace, whether it's you as an academic discovering the world, each of these things can be done in a certain kind of way, a way that honors God, reflects love and grace and mercy into the world.

And when we're doing those things. and keeping work in a place where we believe it to be a healthy part of our life and our rhythm, not dominating it, we're not afraid of it, then we will resonate with our human experience because we will participate in the work of God in the world.

So this week as you go off to your job, wherever that might be, whether it's staying home or out in the world, I would encourage you to do a couple of things. Give thanks and notice the meaningful work that you get to do. Where are you making love visible?

And two, in those moments of hard, those moments of difficulty, those, those moments of challenge, remind yourself that sometimes you just need a break, you need some rest, so you can recharge and work again to create and cultivate the good. Because that's who you are, and we are happiest we can find meaningful work.