Dr Ron Jensen (author of “Make a Life, Not Just a Living) made this statement:

 This work ethic, which was deeply rooted in the Protestant reformation, was the very core of what made America great in its early years. But in the mid-nineteenth century this ethic began to erode. As Sherwood Wirt says, “The calling lost its vertical bearings in the incessant whir of machinery and the grime of the mill town. As the modern world awoke to its material strength and shook off the disciplines of the Puritan way of life, it found that the doctrine of secular calling had become unnecessary. Vocation became simply ‘occupation’. As the eighteenth century arrived and the Enlightenment came into full force (with the dawn of human reason), humankind increasingly became the centre of all things, and work turned from an ennobling occupation to one that was simply utilitarian – a means to an end. Loving God and caring for others were no longer at the centre of work. Labour itself became the shrine.” (emphasis – mine.)

This work ethic must be reflected in every critical area of your life. 

Dr Jensen relates a story of our own Gary Player, one of the greatest golfers the world has known:

“Throughout his career, people have said to him: ‘I’d give anything if I could hit a golf ball like you!’  On one particular tough day, Player was tired and frustrated when once again he heard that comment: ‘I’d give anything if I could hit a golf ball like you.’  Player’s usual politeness failed him as he replied tersely to the spectator, ‘No you wouldn’t! You’d give anything to hit a golf ball like me if it was easy.  Do you know what you’ve got to do to hit a golf ball like me?  You’ve got to get up at five in the morning every day, go out on the course, and hit a thousand golf balls.  Your hand starts bleeding, you walk up to the clubhouse, slap a bandage on it, and go out and hit another thousand golf balls.  That’s what it takes to hit a golf ball like me.”

Thomas Paine said: “That which we obtain too easily, we esteem too lightly.”  If you really value something, you’ve got to work hard at it.  Research (in America, naturally!) says that more than 70% of all workers say they could be more productive and 45% say they could be twice as productive.  One writer said it this way: “Millions are idle – even if they have jobs.  Some have great careers while others simply chisel.”

 I’m seeing the same thing happening here in South Africa.

A couple of years ago, I was involved in a Christian social initiative called “Project Gateway”.  I had the opportunity to visit an informal settlement just outside of my home town, Pietermaritzburg, with the rest of the Gateway executive team. The settlement had been in existence for some 30 years. That it was steeped in poverty was without doubt. It was a weekday and many of the community’s adults were there – quite clearly without jobs.  However, I couldn’t help noticing the heaps of refuse lying around, plastic bags and bottles left to lie in the open, vegetable gardens untended, while men – mainly men – sat or lay around doing nothing. The signs of despair and hopelessness were clearly evident.  Now, I know that social workers and psychologists will tell me that the lack of motivation is to do with extreme poverty, and I’m very aware of the fact that it would probably take enormous will-power to motivate yourself to work when you’re hungry.   But let me say this; – it is not a poverty issue – It is a leadership issue. It is a poor, not to say perverse leadership, – that cannot find anything for people to do.

Where are the leaders who are willing to stand up and set the pace?  Remember what I said was inherent in the Genesis scriptures? – work is honourable and it gives satisfaction. It restores lost dignity; – it provides the sense of achievement and accomplishment so desperately needed in our society; a society where a culture of entitlement tends to prevail; and where everything is done for you if you have enough money.

Dr Jensen draws the following comparison between the time honoured view of work, and the growing view of work:

And this is not just about those who don’t want to work.  It’s just as applicable to those who work all the time – the workaholics.  The work ethic, ultimately, is about who you’re really working for.  Paul, writing to the Colossian church, summed it up in these words,

“Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve. (Col 3:23-24)

Douglas LaBier wrote in “Modern Madness”: “Careerism has become the main work ethic of our time.  At root, careerism is an attitude, a life orientation in which a person views career as the primary and most important aim of life.  An extreme but not uncommon expression of this is found in the comment of a man who told me that he feared dying mainly because it would mean the end of his career.”

He goes on with: “One senior executive jumped off the roof of his building when he walked into work one morning and discovered that his desk had been moved.  A chemist, who failed to receive a grant for a research project, returned to his lab one night, concocted a poison and drank it, dying where he felt most at home and most betrayed.”

Aldous Huxley stated, “They intoxicate themselves with work so they won’t see who they really are.”

NOW, HOW RELEVANT IS ALL THIS TO CHRISTIANS IN BUSINESS?

Very!  And let me stress this point – it is just as relevant to the Christian employee as it is to the Christian employer, – the boss!  Christian bosses have an opportunity to set an example for their employees – Christians and not.  If they’re idle, they’ll soon have idle workers.  If they cheat and steal, well – don’t be surprised if their workers do the same to them.  If they’re workaholics and spend every moment barking and shouting orders; driving their employees to work harder, they’ll create mean-spirited people.  If they’re mean and pay their employees badly, they’ll be telling them they’re not valued too highly. On the other hand, if they decide to serve their employees, they will engender the same attitude in their workers.  Like Peter said:

“…exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples…” (1 Pet 5:2-3)

These words are not just for leaders within a church environment.  They are for Christian leaders in every environment – including the work place.

There is no biblical precedent for the establishment of work.  However, the Bible does speak of the appropriateness of work.  It also speaks of work having its reward.  Our society has unfortunately limited this concept to the pay-packet.  Job satisfaction should include a sense of achievement, of producing something worthwhile, of creative expression, of appreciation of others.

 Our apartheid legacy created an environment where the majority of people only worked if they were – at worst, beaten as slaves or – at best, if they were paid. This is not unlike the situation for the Israelites in Egypt. They had experienced 300 years of slavery.   They thought like slaves and they acted like slaves. They only worked if they were beaten and I guarantee that as soon as the whip carrier’s back was turned they would stop working.   It took a man who had lived outside of that slavery – Moses – and God’s great miracles – to coerce them to leave.   It is time for Christians – who theoretically live outside the slavery of this present age – to stand up and say we no longer have to be like that. We are, after all, new creations! The ‘old’ has gone and the ‘new’ has come. 

Now that I’ve hopefully laid this foundation of the appropriateness of work, in my next newsletter, I will address the role of the Christian employer, and how he should be functioning in the marketplace.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 24th, 2010 at 12:25 pm and is filed under Christians in Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.