This post, which may border on being a rant, is really about a biblical perspective on the dignity of work. There’s a misunderstanding in Christian circles and a misunderstanding in our culture that work is somehow a bad thing, a punishment.
Many professing Christians misunderstand work as resulting from the “fall” in the Garden of Eden. This type of biblical illiteracy is unfortunate. Work existed before man rebelled against God:
The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it (Gen. 2: 15).
The treason against God and the resulting consequences came later, as documented in Genesis 3:
And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; 18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” (Gen. 3:17-19)
Work became laborious, difficult, and hard—choices have consequences. But work is good, noble, and dignified. As the Reformer, Martin Luther, pointed out, all callings are holy. All jobs are good jobs as they represent acts of worship wherein we have the opportunity to bear witness to God through all we say, think, and do (1 Cor. 10:31).
Which brings us to the point of this (long) post. I watched a video of this young woman who graduated with a PHD from Berkley in soil science. She was posting from her car as she lamented being crushed by capitalism. She complained that her degree required her to go to remote places where it was hot and sweaty and work long, uncomfortable hours, presumably for people she didn’t like (i.e., oil companies, industry; agribusiness). It seems she didn’t want to work more than 30 hours a week and in an urban setting (i.e., San Francisco). Watching her complain, it was intuitively obvious to the casual observer that her problem wasn’t capitalism but laziness (and perhaps ignorance). It’s doubtful she’s ever held a job in her life.
Which brings us to a podcast interview with what is arguably the most successful academic institution in America: Wichita State University-Tech Division. That’s right, not USC, UCLA, Harvard, Yale, etc., but WSU. If you are curious, you can listen to a lengthy interview with WSU’s president here. It’s a secular podcast interview, and if you don’t listen to the entire interview, you’ll miss the point of the whole interview (conversations have a beginning, a middle, and an end). If it seems a little homespun… that’s intentional. One of their research efforts was interviewing industries so that they could find their graduates jobs after their education was complete.
What they learned was that students were graduating with an education but no work ethic. They were technically proficient but unwilling (unable?) to work. Many of the students wanted 9-5 or wanted to be paid their “worth” and were unwilling to sacrifice for team members or the greater good. Perceived slights resulted in “quitting in place.” Quitting in place is where the employee just marked time until the day ended, or they were fired, or found another workplace to go (and be miserable?).
Part of this is that younger people no longer take summer work like cutting the grass anymore, but do (old-fashioned) jobs like paper routes, etc. They don’t work in fast food or other—what were once—transitional jobs. Adults are taking these jobs now because of new minimum wage requirements.
Such jobs were once “training ground jobs” for young people seeking summer or part-time employment. Few pursue such jobs these days. Instead, they play video games, take AP prep, and expect high-paying jobs, most of which will never materialize. Why is this?
Today, young people obtain useless degrees, rack up debt they can never repay, and self-medicate (pot, vaping, et al). They are ill-equipped and poorly motivated.
In contrast, WSU recently graduated a high school student through AP programs who received her high school diploma and an associate degree. She obtained a full ride (full scholarship) to the University to pursue a degree in mechanical engineering. This person was a Latina woman who was the first high school graduate in her family. WSU has a “sweat pledge” that you should read (they borrowed it from the Mike Rowe foundation. You can find it here. Read it here (remember these are unbelievers but they are onto something).
Employers lament that no one teaches students how to behave. They come to work without their shirt tails in and they have their phones out. Many will lose their jobs to AI because they don’t have hard skills. They will live at home until their late 20s or early 30s—or fail to launch.
In the middle of this podcast, there was an ad for a firm that builds nuclear submarines for the US government. They are hiring for 250,000 positions over the next 20 years. They need mechanical engineers, metallurgists, welders, and electricians, and they pay well. Job stability and high pay—imagine that.
My point is not to sing the praises of a single institution. But to point to a larger cultural problem, the misunderstanding of work and purpose.
The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it (Gen. 2: 15).
So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. (1 Cor. 10:31)
And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Col. 3:17)
I get it. Unbelievers will not grasp a theology of work. And I won’t go further into the passages that call employees to honor their employers and not just with “eye service” (when the boss is watching) or in Philippians, where we are to honor others above ourselves. But, I want to address two people groups as I close this blog post.
Parents… what are you teaching your children? Are they learning responsibility? Work ethics? Hard work? Forget about grades, which mean less and less because of academic grade inflation. Don’t get me wrong. Grades are important—but character is more so.
Young people, what’s your purpose? Do you know? Are you quitting in place? Coasting? Do you expect to be well-paid? And how are you glorifying God in the process? Do you realize that your work and work ethic are an act of worship? Who, what, are you worshipping?