Our Vocation, a Location Where God Can Work

In 1st Thessalonians 4, Paul offers some principles that can govern our attitude toward our work and the way that we perform it:10b...But we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more;11that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you,12that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing.

If we view ourselves in light of the Scriptures, as children of God, redeemed by Christ, then how we regard our identity in Him will help to shape our approach to our work, our vocation.   We are called to "increase", or as another translation puts it, to "excel."  So, we approach all that we do with an emphasis on quality, reflecting the character of Christ.   We are called to work with our own hands and behave properly toward "those who are outside," i.e., people who don't know Christ.   Our approach to work flows from how we see ourselves - as representatives of Christ - and we seek to honor Him and make Him famous in everything we do, including our employment.

In the third chapter of Colossians, the apostle Paul writes several verses in close proximity with each other that deal with our attitude toward our work.  So here are some great Labor Day verses:
17And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.Later in the chapter, he writes:22Bondservants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God.23And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men,24knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.

With Labor Day approaching, I wanted to share some data today from the Gallup organization's annual Work and Education poll, in which employed Americans were asked if they get a sense of identity from their job. Gallup asked this question on an occasional basis from 1990 through 2003, and then again this year. Although there was a downtick in the percentage who said they get a sense of identity from their work in 1999, the results over time have been generally stable, and the 2003 results are almost identical to those this year.

The survey found that U.S. workers continue to be more likely to say their get a sense of identity from their job, 55%, as opposed to having their job just be something they do for a living, 42%. These results have been consistent throughout multiple Gallup polls since 1989.

Education is one of the most significant predictors of how workers approach their job, with 70% of college graduates saying they get a sense of identity from their job, compared with the 45% of Americans who don't hold a college degree who say the same.

American workers in households with higher annual incomes are also more likely to receive a sense of identity from their job. Sixty-three percent of those whose annual household income is $50,000 a year or more get a sense of identity from their job, compared with 43% of Americans who live in households with lower annual incomes.  Note that the question measures household rather than individual income, so it doesn't necessarily mean that Americans with higher paychecks get a sense of identity from their job, since you would predominantly have two working adults in the upper-income households.

Older working Americans, those aged 45 and older, are slightly more likely than younger workers to get a sense of identity from their job. Women are slightly more likely to get a sense of identity from their job than men. However, in past polling, these differences were less pronounced.

But, even if you derive identity from your work, does that mean that you are satisfied at your job?  I think you're talking about 2 different attitudes, and last year's State of the American Workplace Report from Gallup bears that out. According to a USA Today piece, just 30% of employees are engaged and inspired at work. That's up from 28% in 2010. The rest … not so much. A little more than half of workers (52%) have a perpetual case of the Mondays — they're present, but not particularly excited about their job.

The remaining 18% are actively disengaged or, as Gallup CEO Jim Clifton put it in the report, "roam the halls spreading discontent." Worse, Gallup reports, those actively disengaged employees cost the U.S. up to $550 billion annually in lost productivity.

So, what does it look like to live as a Christian in the workplace?  Well, for one thing, related to what I shared yesterday, our identity ultimately is in Christ.  And, that doesn't mean that we cannot be closely identified with the work that we do.  Our vocation, in some instances, can be related to God's calling for our lives.  Or not - interestingly enough, the apostle Paul had a vocation of tentmaking, but a calling to be a minister who wrote much of the New Testament.  So, a job can sometimes be a funding mechanism for an assignment to which God has called you.  

But, our vocation can provide the location for God to work through us to fulfill our life's calling.  We recognize that we're all called to the ministry, to be "ministers of reconciliation," as 2nd Corinthians puts it.  So, if we see ourselves as servants of Christ, then I believe we can then seek to serve Him well in our employment and really be the best workers in the place, because we belong to Him.

But, a majority of people are not satisfied in their work, according to the data.  And, that really can cause a problem if you're deriving your identity from a profession that you don't like.   So, we have to make sure that we correct our source of identity to align with Scripture.  And, we also have to make sure that the Word of God and the Spirit of God shape our attitudes - even at work.  Maybe even in a job that we find hard to like. 

Again, we serve and represent Christ - I believe we're called to do our jobs well, to be productive and engaged.   We can ask God to give us the right countenance - and the right communication.   We don't want to be the people who spread discontent, about whom the Gallup CEO was referring.   It matters if we view all that we do as expressions of our love for and service to our Lord.