Work and Spiritual Growth
The following is the text of this animated video:
Farmers insist that at night you can hear corn growing. Really? Let’s come in closer for a listen.
No, that’s not a phone ringing. Actually, it’s the sound of corn growing. Scientists have finally recorded what farmers claimed to hear. God invented the growth process. You see it everywhere in his Creation. Kids can’t wait to grow up. Baby chicks grow into hens or roosters. Acorns grow into oak trees.
And God intends that newborn believers become mature Christians. His aim for fully grown disciples becomes one more incentive to get up and go to work.
The idea of growth takes us back to the cornfield. Scientists believe the growing sounds of corn stalks reflect a process that could strike us as painful. One expert says, “"We now think that plant growth involves millions of tiny breakage events, and that these breakage events trigger the plant to rush to 'repair' the broken regions. By continuously breaking and repairing, the plant is able to grow taller and taller."
It seems that spiritual growth also involves shattering and mending, hurting and healing. In Romans 5:3-4, Paul says: “suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” In other words, from the painful soil of suffering sprouts growth into perseverance. And from that perseverance sprouts the growth of character. And from that character sprouts the growth of hope.
It's tempting to think spiritual growth comes through such channels as sermons, prayer meetings, Bible studies, and so on. True, these activities CAN contribute to our growth as Christians. But If suffering provides fertile soil for spiritual formation, then the workplace offers a rich garden in which this kind of growth can sprout. On the job, you must cope with all kinds of trouble: toxic bosses, pay cuts, absurd deadlines, over-the-top workloads, and much more.
But the workplace as a stress-filled arena for spiritual growth is nothing new. Bible characters, through their work, grew through tests of their faith. Joseph began life as a pampered, favorite child, tattling on his brothers. One day his Dad sent him on a work errand to check on his brothers. They dumped the spoiled brat into a cistern. Workplace suffering. Then, after being sold as a slave in Egypt, Joseph’s workplace became the home of an official. The man’s wife tried to seduce Joseph. Today, we call that sexual harassment. But after Joseph refused her, she accused him of rape. Workplace suffering.
So Joseph landed in an Egyptian prison, which turned out to be his new workplace. But after he correctly interpreted a fellow prisoner’s dream, the man forgot him and failed to mention him to the ruler of Egypt. Workplace suffering. After enduring all this pain in his workplaces, the self-centered boy grew spiritually into a man filled with grace. He finally said to the same brothers who had sold him into slavery: “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.”
David’s first workplace was out in the desert tending his father’s flock of sheep. Sometimes a lion came for a mutton dinner. Or a bear came shopping for lamb chops. But David learned to meet these workplace challenges by trusting in the Lord’s power to deliver him. These tests of his faith on the job prepared David for an even greater challenge. As he himself explained it: The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” 1 Sam 17:37
The reality that spiritual growth sprouts in the soil of suffering may help to explain why Eugene Peterson said this about the role of our work: “I am prepared to contend that the primary location for spiritual formation is the workplace.”
Corn grows by being broken and restored—over and over again. For you as a Christian, your work provides countless opportunities for growth as you are broken and trust God to restore you.
With all this in mind, learn to see your work through new lenses—as faith’s fitness center.
Chapter 15:
“Become Like Christ”
God loves your work, because he uses it in forming the life of his Son in you.
