More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
Read between
January 21 - January 21, 2022
Jack Miller, “Cheer up: You’re a worse sinner than you ever dared imagine, and you’re more loved than you ever dared hope.” 1 In other words, I will continually err and sin, and yet God will prevail in my life through his goodness and grace.
view of work—connected with divine, orderly creation and human purpose—is distinct among the great faiths and belief systems of the world.
the Bible, however, creation is not the result of a conflict, for God has no rivals.
Repeatedly the first chapters of the book of Genesis describe God at “work,” using the Hebrew mlkh, the word for ordinary human work.
God left creation with deep untapped potential for cultivation that people were to unlock through their labor.
we do not see work brought into our human story after the fall of Adam, as part of the resulting brokenness and curse; it is part of the blessedness of the garden of God.
Work is as much a basic human need as food, beauty, rest, friendship, prayer, and sexuality; it is not simply medicine but food for our soul. Without meaningful work we sense significant inner loss and emptiness. People who are cut off from work because of physical or other reasons quickly discover how much they need work to thrive emotionally, physically, and spiritually.
According to the Bible, we don’t merely need the money from work to survive; we need the work itself to survive and live fully human lives.
It is, or it should be, the full expression of the worker’s faculties . . . the medium in which he offers himself to God.” 31
you make any work the purpose of your life—even if that work is church ministry—you create an idol that rivals God.
leisure is not the mere absence of work, but an attitude of mind or soul in which you are able to contemplate and enjoy things as they are in themselves,
To Rand, creative, productive work is essential to human dignity but is typically demeaned by bureaucracy and commonness. One of her characters in Atlas Shrugged states,
we see that work is a major component of human dignity—it resonates today even with the most secular thinkers. That was not always so.
Human beings were to become like the gods by withdrawing from active life and devoting themselves to contemplation.”
Greek social structure helped to support such an outlook, for it rested on the premise that slaves and [craftsmen] did the work, enabling the elite to devote themselves to the exercise of the mind in art, philosophy, and politics.”
Only man is set apart and given a job description, “an office (1:26b, 28b; 2:19; cf. Ps.8:4–8; James 3:7) . . .” 44 In other words, while the plants and animals are called to simply “teem” and “reproduce,” only humans are explicitly given a job. They are called to “subdue” and “have dominion,” or rule the earth.
“If God came into the world, what would he be like? For the ancient Greeks, he might have been a philosopher-king. The ancient Romans might have looked for a just and noble statesman. But how does the God of the Hebrews come into the world? As a carpenter.” 47
The current economic era has given us fresh impulses and new ways to stigmatize work such as farming and caring for children—jobs that supposedly are not “knowledge” jobs and therefore do not pay very well. But in Genesis we see God as a gardener, and in the New Testament we see him as a carpenter. No task is too small a vessel to hold the immense dignity of work given by God. Simple physical labor is God’s work no less than the formulation of theological truth.
food for thought...
“The earthly paradise . . . is a model of parental care. The fledgling is sheltered but not smothered: on all sides discoveries and encounters await him to draw out his powers of discernment and choice, and there is ample nourishment for his aesthetic, physical and spiritual appetites; further, there is a man’s work before him for body and mind (v. 15, 19).” 49 For our spiritual growth there was a divine Word to obey (verses 16–17). For our cultural and creative development there was the physical work of the tending of the garden (verse 15) and the mental stretching and understanding involved
...more
Breakdown of each component of humanity. Phsical, mental etc...
license to exploit nature. But that is not what it is talking about. 50 Remember that this mandate is given before the fall, before nature becomes subject to decay (Romans 8:17–27) and brings up thorns along with fruit (Genesis 3:17–19). There is still a primeval harmony within creation that no longer exists in the same way after the fall.
Stewardahip...
through his work. He gives the world form. Where it is unshaped and undifferentiated, he distinguishes and elaborates. He takes the general and separates it into particulars,
God could easily have created humanity in only one form but instead created us in two genders, different and complementary, yet equal.
he creates realms (heavens, sky and waters, earth), and on the second three days he fills each realm with inhabitants (sun, moon and stars, birds and fish, animals and humans).
He made it such that even he had to work for it to become what he designed it to be, to bring forth all its riches and potential. It is no coincidence that in Genesis 1, verse 28 God tells us to follow him in doing the same things that he has been doing—filling and subduing.
Rather, its potential is undeveloped, so it needs to be cultivated like a garden.
we are to be gardeners who take an active stance toward their charge.
Landscape architects. Devil in the white city…
In the same way, what if you see a human need not being met, you see a talent or resource that can meet that need, and you then invest your resources—at your risk and cost—so that the need is met and the result is new jobs, new products, and better quality of life? What you are doing, Mouw concluded, is actually God-like.
In 1 Corinthians chapter 7, Paul counsels readers that when they become Christians it is unnecessary to change what they are currently doing in life—their marital state, job, or social station—in order to live their lives before God in a way that pleases him.
The implication is clear: Just as God equips Christians for building up the Body of Christ, so he also equips all people with talents and gifts for various kinds of work, for the purpose of building up the human community.
Our daily work can be a calling only if it is reconceived as God’s assignment to serve others. And that is exactly how the Bible teaches us to view work.
our church we have many high-achieving young people who are recruited out of college or business school to work in the financial services industry. Lured by the recruiting process, signing bonuses, and compensation packages that far exceed those of other professions or industries, many of these young people barely consider other vocational alternatives. For decades these jobs have offered status and financial security beyond compare. In the face of this kind of opportunity, how is a committed Christian supposed to think objectively about his or her “calling”?
Jordan Peterson / luxury beliefs . Wherr you live is notvan amoral decision
She tried to think about how she could best use her gifts and passion to serve instead. Her decision created quite a flurry, even in the church!
I struggle with this concept. Bc weakth begets wealth and there is the opportunity die to succes...
Beruf in German, the word for “occupation,” and mounted a polemic against the view of vocation prevalent in the medieval church. 61 The church at that time understood itself as the entirety of God’s kingdom on earth, 62 and therefore only work in and for the church could qualify as God’s work. This meant that the only way to be called by God into service was as a monk, priest, or nun. They were called “the spiritual estate,” everyone else’s work was worldly, and secular labor was seen as akin to the demeaning necessity that the Greeks saw in manual labor. 63 Luther attacked this idea
...more
The gospel of salvation through sheer grace holds a second implication for work. While ancient monks may have sought salvation through religious works, many modern people seek a kind of salvation—self-esteem and self-worth—from career success. This leads us to seek only high-paying, high-status jobs, and to “worship” them in perverse ways. But the gospel frees us from the relentless pressure of having to prove ourselves and secure our identity through work, for we are already proven and secure.
Since we already have in Christ the things other people work for—salvation, self-worth, a good conscience, and peace—now we may work simply to love God and our neighbors. It is a sacrifice of joy, a limitation that offers freedom.
The essential [modern] heresy . . . being that work is not the expression of man’s creative energy in the service of Society, but only something one does in order to obtain money and leisure.
“The reason why men often find themselves happy and satisfied in the army is that for the first time in their lives they found themselves doing something, not for the pay, which is miserable, but for the sake of getting the thing done.”
And in many ways women were able to go into things thry Were excluded from prior ...
The difference between [a wilderness] and culture is simply, work.
Captain Cronin about his first thoughts following the loss of the cargo door. He said, “I said a prayer for my passengers momentarily and then got back to business.”
There is a movie ab this - freaked me out.
