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I like the fact that the “Framework for Fruitfulness” (see yesterday’s blog) in Mark Green’s Fruitfulness on the Frontline lists Making Good Work high on the list. Churches tend not to talk about regular work all that much, which, interestingly, is different from the Bible’s emphasis.

• The first picture we have of God is that he is a worker (Genesis 1 and 2)
• Many of God’s key people worked at “secular” jobs:
  • Joseph (Genesis 37 – 50) and Daniel (Daniel 1 – 6) were Prime Ministers.
  • Moses (Exodus and Numbers) was a liberator and led the people through the wilderness.
  • Joshua was a general. (Joshua)
  • David, who wrote about half the Psalms, was also a military man and a king.
  • Lydia, who hosted a church in her home, was a merchant. (Acts 16)
• Many events in the Bible occurred in the context of work:
  • God appeared to Moses while he was tending sheep (Exodus 3).
  • The angel appeared to Gideon while he was threshing wheat (Judges 6).
  • The shepherds in Luke 2 were at work when the angels appeared to them, and after seeing the baby Jesus, they returned to work.

Tomorrow we’ll look in more detail at our own work.

The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. (Genesis 2.15)

Six days you shall labor and do all your work. (Exodus 20.9)