GOD CARES ABOUT OUR WORK. PERIOD.
Our Work Matters To God
It has taken years for me to shake the notion that working a full-time job is merely a distraction from the fully committed Christian life I ought to live. Even after learning in college that the sacred-secular divide is a myth, and that my work is a holy offering to God, this truth has been slow to make its way from my head to my heart and hands.
Part of that difficulty was the misconception that God cares about my work the same way my mom cares about my work: she’s very pleased that I have a job, but she has no idea what I actually do. I am increasingly convinced that God, in his infinite knowledge and love, takes a very specific interest in our day-to-day lives.
Recently, my manager gave me an assignment to answer a data question for our team that no one had previously been able to answer. As I pondered my dilemma, the Holy Spirit prompted me with a line of thought: If my manager wants this problem solved, and if Jesus commands me to work with all my heart unto Him, and in service of my manager, then Jesus is a key stakeholder in getting this problem solved. In a prayer walk later that day, God planted an idea in my mind that would eventually help answer the question.
Paul Tournier wrote in The Adventure of Living, “As soon as we realize that God takes an interest in all we do, we can bring it all to him.”
This was a turning point for me. If God cares about my work, then my data queries matter to him. Everything I do matters to him, even the most minute and granular details, and he wants to walk on that journey with me.
An Outpost Of Light
Darren Ho from The Restored Leader said, “You may be the only outpost of kingdom light that your colleagues ever see.” When non- believing coworkers learn that we are Christians, they begin piecing together our actions and associating them with what we stand for. The question then becomes: if we are the only beacons of light they can see, what are we displaying?
When I lived and worked in China, I shared my Christian faith early on, but the topic continued to arise throughout my time with the organization. One Chinese colleague, always curious about our cultural and faith differences, would occasionally ask me whether a decision I made was because I was American, or because I was Christian. This provided opportunities to share through day- to-day actions how my faith worked itself out.
Join Up
When God gave us the Cultural Mandate in Genesis 1, he set in motion the creation of societies, technologies, art, and culture. And as believers in the 21st century workplace, we still have a role to play in the flourishing of society, whether through the products and services our companies offer, or through other avenues of community and social impact.
However, there is a widespread idea that the only way Christians can make an impact in the workplace is through office Bible studies or prayer groups. In Romans 12:17, Paul casts a broader vision for us: “Give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.” So, when I heard the Holy Spirit’s whisper in the wake of the Black Lives Matter Movement, I followed his leading into very unfamiliar territory.
I approached a black colleague about starting a Black Lives Matter reading group to push our Atlanta-based team towards better allyship. Each month, a diverse group of us—Muslim, agnostic, gay, straight, men, women—met to discuss heavy reading material about racism in the United States.
Though this wasn’t an explicitly “Christian” activity on the exterior, it was for me a direct outworking of faith, and everyone agreed that it benefitted the team. Regardless of whether anyone comes to faith as a result of this exercise, I hope it serves as the sweet aroma of the kingdom and makes our workplace a more just and equitable place, in the name of Jesus.
A believer since 2001, the author Jamie S. is one of five GLS alumni speakers at our Work as Globalocal Mission Conference. He is on a journey of discovering how to authentically integrate his faith into the workplace through all the twists and turns his career has taken. A student of language and culture, Jamie learned Mandarin during undergrad and pursued a career in East Asia after graduation, joining the staff of a prestigious education institution. After several years, he returned to the U.S., where he worked at a software company before earning his MBA at Duke and transitioning to a project manager and data analytics role at a Fortune 500 company. Even as Jamie seeks to be fully present and reflect the kingdom in his Atlanta office, he is also pursuing a way to return to East Asia in a business capacity. Jamie and his wife are alumni of the GLS network of bivocational workers.