Good Work (Part 1)

Your work will not make sense unless you put it into the right story.

Ben Dockery | Est. 5 minutes

My brothers and I grew up playing sports constantly. We played at home, at school, on teams, and even at church (youth group games!). Coaches would often say, “Good Work!” – accompanied by an affirming slap on the back to demonstrate behavior they wanted us to repeat. It was great. You knew you did something to contribute to the larger goal. 

I loved hearing - and repeating to teammates - “Good Work.” The words affirmed actions like basic blocking and tackling, hustling in practice, but also scoring the game-winning goal. It simplified things in my young mind. We all knew what it meant. As an adult, it can feel like a different story. It’s not always as clear what constitutes good work. How do you determine if you are on track? Is it adding to the bottom-line, the triple-bottom line, the eternal-bottom line? Do you decide by an internal compass? Is it based on your performance review or co-workers' affirmation? 

The Need For Story

One of my favorite readings in the Lakelight Fellows program addresses this question. Alasdair MacIntryre’s persuasive book, After Virtue, gives this example: Imagine you’re standing at a bus stop and a young man you do not know approaches you and says, ‘Histrionicus - Histrionicus - Histrionicus.’ What does this mean? How do you make sense of it? How should you respond?

MacIntyre argues that you have to put it into a story. It needs context.

What are possible ways to make sense of this experience? MacIntyre suggests it could be a sad story, and the young man is mentally ill. It could be a comedy, a case of mistaken identity - yesterday, someone of your age, height, and general appearance approached this young man and asked him the Latin name for the common wild duck. Today, he’s mistaken you for that person and provided the answer. Or, maybe the guy is a foreign spy and you are mistaken for a contact and the code word is ‘histrionicus’. While outlandish, it’s possible. 

All three make sense of the event, but all three will lead to very different reactions. Unless you understand what happened in the light of the right story, you don’t know the meaning or proper response.

Similarly, your work will not make sense unless you put it into the right story (hat-tip to Tim Keller and Katherine Leary Alsdorf for making this clear for thousands of people in Every Good Endeavor).*1

The (False) Story of Work

Today, the dominant story of culture says that you should express yourself in your work, or stated more crassly, “you do you.” Just a few decades ago, the motto might have been, “get yours,” but that no longer accounts for society's emphasis on social and environmental well-being. A generation prior, work was one’s duty and the questions related to personal passion and purpose were not on the table; instead, you needed to put food on the table. 

So, do we work to express ourselves, get what we can, save the environment, or simply pay the bills? The challenge in each case is that we, humans, are at the center of the story. Ultimately, this starting point does not lead to good work.

The Bible tells you a different story. An eternal God is at the center. The story of a renewed world where this life is the tiniest little beginning of it. Remember, if we get the story wrong, we get the meaning wrong.

I got the story of work wrong for a number of years. Like many raised in the church (or on country music), I thought of work as a necessary evil or even a curse, a four-letter word.*2 Dolly Parton was awarded an Academy Award nomination and four Grammy Award nominations for her song, 9 to 5. She captures what many think about work,

“Working 9 to 5, what a way to make a livin'

Barely gettin' by, it's all takin' and no givin'

They just use your mind and you never get the credit

It's enough to drive you crazy if you let it”

The Bible acknowledges this cursed, ‘takin’ and no givin,’ dimension of work. Genesis 3 explains that when you try to grow tomatoes in your garden, you are going to cut your hand on a thorn or thistle. It’s a reminder of judgment. Frankly, the constant ‘drive you crazy’ dimension of work is one reason you should trust the Bible. God’s word in Genesis 3 is proved right over and over by our co-workers, technology, meetings, and the sweat of hard labor. 

However, that is not the part of the story many people get wrong. The trouble comes when you start in Genesis 3 and not Genesis 1 and 2. Instead of work starting as a punishment for humans, work is first seen as a purpose of human life. When humans make something of the world, they are fulfilling an existential longing to create and accomplish. To borrow the ancient Hebrew teaching, we are imaging our creator by cultivating the earth (Gen 1:26). When paradise is still in place, humans are called to work and care for the world. God names this ‘good.’ From the beginning, work was good.

God didn’t make the world with everything complete, instead, He made images of Himself to spread out over the world and act like Him by working to fill the earth with created things. That’s kind of exciting, right?! Human work, as we learn later in the story, is intended to function according to the internal logic of creation - for the good of others and the fame of the first creator, not the workers (Lev. 19:9-18; Mt 5:14-16). The logic and limits of work are a second layer of understanding good work - more on that in a forthcoming article (Part 2).

Vocation: God’s Story for You And Your Work

For now, know this: The Bible places work as part of human purpose and calling. The notion of “calling” (or vocation) requires one outside of us to speak to us, to call us. This eliminates modern notions of self-expression as the starting point for work. The incarnation, in addition to the creation account, affirms the goodness of the material world we carry out our vocations. This eliminates notions of avoiding work to be closer to God.

Research suggests you will spend 90,000 hours working. And, that only includes paid work of an average employee (most readers will far exceed that number). If Annie Dillard is right, that "how we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives," then we want to make our lives count. We want to do good work, God’s work.

Let me conclude by telling you, “Good Work!” Good work responding to your emails today - you are cultivating the earth by words, coordination, decision, and advice. Good work on caring for the needs of those around you (whether small and needing to be fed, adolescent and needing to be heard, or aging and needing to be comforted). Good work cleaning and maintaining your home or apartment. Good work planning and making the next meal. Good work creating a spreadsheet or pitch deck to present to a client. Good work completing your school work or instructing students to complete their work. You are representing God in the world. What might seem like ordinary actions are latent with divine design and purpose. 

Not only does your work make sense for your life, but it is part of a larger story, God’s story of blessing those around you and honoring your Father in heaven. 

If this topic interest you, find out information on our upcoming event, Good Work Summit | October 14, 2023.

P.S. It’s free to tell someone good work, you might try it with a family member or co-worker today.

© Ben Dockery | This article was first published in Lakelight Monthly, June 2023 Edition

 Footnotes: 

*1 In Every Good Endeavor, Tim Keller and Katherine Leary Alsdorf highlight MacIntyre’s “Histrionicus-Histrionicus-Histrionicus” as an example to locate ‘work’ in a larger story.

*2 See chapter 2 in Tom Nelson, Work Matters, for a longer discussion on work as a four-letter word.

Click Here For Good Work PT 2