Working on the Whiteboard

Last week at my church's young adult meeting, we discussed work, specifically the difference between calling and a job. We spent most of the meeting brainstorming words we associate with work on the whiteboard. After the meeting ended, I grabbed the dry erase marker and made a few edits. This was the result:

While it may looks like an elementary art project, I think it accurately represents how Christian young adults think about work.  Young, Christian, college grads entering the workforce today are confused, yet oddly optimistic. Let's look at why.

I think the main source of our discontent comes from trying to link our identity to our job. Think about it. What's the first thing you tell someone you've just met about yourself, after your name? You tell them what you do. Why? Because what we do is supposed to tell other people something about who we are. For example if a guy tells you that he is an accountant, you're supposed to think that he is smart, responsible, financially secure, and a numbers geek. You're more likely to forgive his social awkwardness because he's using his talents to make sure that the rest of us don't end up filing for bankruptcy. It amazes me how one verb can produce two juicy sentences of stereotypes.

While is just a silly example, it gets to the heart of the problem. The problem of defining our identity and self worth in terms of what we produce. When we derive our identity and self-worth from what we produce, we automatically privilege the minority of the population (read: us) with enough money, education, and power to produce .I'd hate to see self-worth available only to those born white, rich, and smart. 

Post-colonial theory rant aside, I think my peers and I have reason to be optimistic. We don't need to search for our identity because we've already got one. We are disciples of Christ. Jesus' death and resurrection gives us eternal life, and gives us eternal identities rooted in him. I love Paul's instructions to the Corinthians, "Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain." (1 Corinthians 15:8) Here Paul makes it clear that laboring in the Lord comes out of our commitment to discipleship. The only labor we're allowed to derive our self-worth from is the work of the Lord acting through us. 

Let's aim to separate identity (who we are) from job (what we do). Let's allow our jobs to be the work we enjoy doing, but who's primary function is to pay the bills so we can serve the Lord with the first fruits of our time and talents.