Your Work is Not Who You Are
I want to be a psychologist.
I want to work as a psychologist.
The above two statements are representations of my thoughts concerning my future career choices. While they are overwhelmingly similar, they have a subtle distinction that helps frame my work into a proper perspective.
The first statement makes my career choice an identity. The second statement identifies my future work as a role - something I assume in a particular situation, and then complete. The bottom statement is the one I want to think and speak.
But why? Why do our beliefs about our work matter so much? And how can they better reflect what God’s word reveals about work? That’s what we’re going to explore today.
Generally, within the postmodern American society, work is viewed as a key part of one’s identity. We ask children, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” If you’re in high school or college, you likely spend a lot of time thinking about your future career and taking personality and vocational fit tests.
If you’re in your postgrad state (like me), you probably wonder, what am I going to do with the rest of my life? In a capitalist society where making money is viewed as essential to survival, these choices make sense. Indeed, before the eight-hour workday became a custom for most industries, people in the pre-Industrial Revolution United States worked 16+ hours a day for mere pennies.
Even today, we spend the majority of our time either working or doing work-related activities. So no doubt history plays a role in shaping how we view our work.
However, it is obvious that people can be, and are, wrong, even where majorities would agree. Consensus does not make truth. Viewing work as one’s identity may be prevalent, but that does not mean work is one’s identity.
Indeed, if we look at the Bible, we find a different locus for our self-understanding: we are all images of God. We were made to be like God in some ways, and we were made to reflect Him in the world. When we better understand this identity, we can better understand our place when it comes to work.
THE IMAGO DEI
This Latin phrase means “the image of God,” and the concept is first found in Genesis 1:26-27 where God decides to make humanity in his image. Even though a lot of theological reflection has been done on what the image of God means, for our purposes, it’s fair to describe it as the ways we are like God and we reflect him in the world He made.
How should we consider this in regard to our work? We see that God worked to create the world, although for Him, it was obviously not toil since he is omnipotent. God spoke everything except for humanity into existence; humanity He made from the dust of the ground and He breathed the breath of life into him.
Man then became a living soul. We learn from the creation account that work is good, since God worked and He is good, and that it was originally meant to be not burdensome.
We also learn that work is not to be the end-all be-all of our lives. After making man on the sixth day, God rested. For God to rest means that He rules and reigns over what He has made. In other words, God is not creating the same way He was originally.
In the same way, while we should work hard to glorify God, as images of God, we are meant to rest. Moreover, we need to rest. One of the aspects of God’s holiness is that he is infinite. He has no limits and, therefore, does not slumber nor sleep. But as created beings, we are by definition limited. We need rest to fully function.
THE PROBLEM
If we know and come to believe that we are images of God (and new creations in Christ if we believe in his work on the cross and resurrection), why do we tie our work to our sense of identity? As alluded to above, it’s easy to do because we spend most of our time working.
But may I suggest that we might view work as a way to control the chaos the Fall brought onto our environment? After the Fall, work became toilsome. Moreover, we needed to work quite literally to survive.
Whereas Adam and Eve needed to work to produce food, make shelter, and other basic needs, we still need to work to make money for those things and more. From this, it is easy to think that if we work hard - even to the point of workaholism and burnout - we can not only survive, but even thrive.
I know this from my own experience. I had preconceived notions about what my first job would be like: I thought it would be meaningful (and it was), I thought I would be successful (and I was), and I thought I could finally establish myself (I did, but not monetarily).
But my expectations were not met by reality. There were days I considered my job meaningless and boring. There were days when I would get upset with myself for not meeting goals. I did not make a lot of money. Who could deliver me, as Paul asked, from this body of death?
THE SOLUTION
Thank God Jesus came to give abundant life (John 10:10). Through his death and resurrection, Jesus changed everything for you and me - for all who believe, including our work. Instead of being identified with our work, we are identified as daughters of God and ambassadresses (it’s a word!) of Heaven to the world.
Adopting this perspective in my work helped me, funnily enough, work even better to help the clients I helped because I understood I was representing Christ to mankind, and I wanted to do right by Him. We also learn that in Christ, we are remade as new creations.
We’re no longer identified by our job status, but as the people of God with new hearts made by the Master Artist. Finally, when we recognize that we are loved forever by this beautiful God, we are free to work from his love. We know because of Jesus that God is already pleased with us. So we work not because we have something to prove to Him (or those around us) but because we love Him.
Some takeaways:
If you have placed your confidence in Jesus’ death for your sins, burial, and resurrection, remember who you are. You are more than a worker: you are a beloved daughter of God and a representative of Him to the world.
From this identity, work as unto the Lord, and not unto men. Doing so will enable you to work hard for the glory of God (Colossians 3:23-34).
Practically, find ways you can make your job easier and thus mitigate some of the toil caused by the Fall. If you work in a knowledge-based industry (like healthcare, law, education, social work, etc.), develop systems you can refer to make certain, repetitive tasks easier.
In my first job, I connected people to healthcare providers (including board-certified medical doctors) that participated in their insurance carriers and plans. I used scripts other employees had developed to ask questions of healthcare officers, and even developed my own.
I also bookmarked the board certification sites of the doctors whose credentials I had to verify. If you work in a primary industry such as agriculture, forestry, mining, or fishing, if you have not already, take advantage of mechanical tools.
Describe yourself not in terms of your work (see the intro) but in who God sees you as. Some good verses on your identity in Christ include the following: Ephesians 1:11, Colossians 3:12, 2 Corinthians 5:21, and 1 John 3:1-2.
Beloved sisters in Christ and daughters of God, remember who you are, and live it out.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ozi Ojukwu is a girl who is learning everyday what it means to fall deeper in love (devotion) with God. A graduate of Cedarville University and an intern at her local Legal Aid society, she loves reading books, writing poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction to glorify God (check out her Instagram at @prosophilesvox), and listening to Christian music in a wide variety of genres. Her hope is that every Christian would revel in the reality that they are sons and daughters of God and thus live in love instead of fear.