“For most of our adult lives, we are engaged in some type of labor. What we do often defines for ourselves, and/or for others, who we are. To some degree, we are what we do.” Dr. R. C. Sproul
Do you often, or at all, associate the word “work” with the word “sanctity?” We have already seen that work is “the performing of a task or to fulfill duties regularly for wages or salary. It additionally means to perform or carry through a task requiring sustained effort or continuous repeated operations. Finally, work means to exert oneself physically or mentally especially in a sustained effort for a particular purpose.”
What about the word sanctity. What does it mean? Sanctity means to consider something, or someone, holy, sacred, blessed, pure, and unprofane.
Take a moment. How often have you considered your work, job, employment or your source of income as something holy, sacred, blessed, pure and unprofane? Frankly, many people use all manner of profanity to express their emotions about their work. Complaining about work and wages, sometimes in the most intense ways, seems to be the unalienable right of the American worker.
However, Genesis 1:28 says, “Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’”
When writing about the sanctity of work, Dr. R. C. Sproul explains, “Our work is a vital part of our identity. It is not the curse of humanity but the sacred vocation of the human race. It is not work that makes us free, but it is work that makes us obedient. As creatures made in the image of God, we are to imitate God in certain ways. One such way involves work. God is a working God—a Creator. In His work of Creation, He formed the cosmos, then assigned tasks to His creatures.”
“We were created to dress, till, and keep the earth. We were made to be fruitful—to be productive as God is productive. And God assigned us these tasks before the Fall. Thus, labor is not a curse; it is a blessing that goes with Creation. The sanctity of human labor is rooted in the work of God Himself and in His call to us to imitate Him.”
Remember, our work and labor is not a result of the Fall; it is a blessing from God. The sanctity of human work is rooted in the work of God and in His call to believers to imitate Him. May we seek to no longer be conformed to this world’s attitude toward work, but have our minds renewed by God’s Word regarding our weekly labor (Romans 12:1-2).
Soli deo Gloria!
His Word Today 