Christianity Today: Work Matters to God Because We Matter, by David L. Bahnsen (Author, Full-Time: Work and the Meaning of Life (2024)):
If one were to summarize the underlying thesis of the contemporary faith and work movement in a single sentence, it would likely be “Your work matters to God.”
Dozens of books have been published on the subject and a seemingly significant movement of conferences, websites, and resources has gained traction in the past two decades. The answers to why our work matters to God and what that means practically may vary, but the message “Our work matters to God” has shaped much of the conversation in churches and Christian workplaces alike.
But I believe we need a more Kuyperian understanding of this concept. Our work matters to God because all of the created order belongs to Christ, and we find in the creation account not just the anthropological truths that matter to this subject (mankind is an image bearer of God) but the ontological truths as well (our very being is connected to our pre-Fall mandate to be the workers and cultivators of God’s creation). This foundational appeal to a theology of work requires a pre-Fall understanding of work and purpose and then a post-Fall application.
A Kuyperian understanding of this theology provides a vision for work that is, like all of nature, tainted by sin yet under the redemptive work of God’s plan in history. Human beings as image bearers of God, created with an incomprehensible capacity for productivity and creativity, demonstrate the lordship of Christ even in a fallen world and participate in the glorious redemption process as our earthly endeavors build God’s kingdom, business by business.
“Some people imagine the state of glory around God’s throne as though all labor will have ended, to taste heavenly bliss in pleasant idleness,” Abraham Kuyper has said. “These people know neither God nor his angels nor life as it will be in heaven.”
A declining view of work in the culture at large has managed to portray work as a meaningful contributor to stress, anxiety, desolation, and isolation. Humanistic assumptions, often subconsciously wedded to elitism, have given birth to the idea that standard market professions—often blue-collar or not requiring of a post-graduate degree—are “less than,” contributing to a societal nose-thumbing and to a severe worker dissatisfaction. This cause-and-effect dynamic is a vicious cycle that undermines fulfillment and flourishing.
The faith and work movement promises to be an antidote to this negative feedback loop. A high view of work negates the need to succumb to the thinking of a “dead-end job” and certainly avoids the temptation to exit the workforce all together (where degrees of despair are most magnified).
But I would argue that in the very creation mandate itself (Gen. 1–2) we find meaning in our earthly endeavors, which offers a remedy for this crisis of despair. Not only can we avoid the terribly counterproductive notion that work is causing these problems, but we can embrace the resolution that work may provide in solving these problems. …
The Kuyperian message of Christ’s lordship is upheld in the restaurant kitchen and in the executive boardroom when the message starts with creational truths about anthropology. The foolishness of the world’s message is that work matters to the extent that it builds status, which leads to a high population of those dissatisfied with how such status is hard to come by. The message for the 21st-century faith and work movement must be that work matters because the worker matters.
David L. Bahnsen, Author, Full-Time: Work and the Meaning of Life (2024):
We were created to work, and our work provides unique meaning and purpose in our lives. Yet today we are living in a crisis of apathy and ignorance regarding work’s theological and existential nature.
There is no shortage of books pleading with people to work less, to find “balance,” to think less of career and more of the things that bring them “happiness.” Likewise, there is no shortage of books making the case that work matters a great deal—that good things come from fruitful labor. This book belongs in neither of those categories.
In Full-Time: Work and the Meaning of Life, David Bahnsen makes the case that our understanding of work and its role in our lives is deeply flawed—we are unmoored from what he calls “created purpose.” He argues that the time has come to stop tip-toeing around the issues that matter, that separating one’s identity from what they do is demonstrably false, and that this era of alienation is for many a direct result of a low view of work. It is in work—effort, service, striving—of every kind that we discover our meaning and purpose; a significant and successful life is one rooted in full-time productivity and cultivation of God’s created world.
This book is not your normal “defense of work” book. Whether you are a leader, a follower, a boss, an employee, in a white collar or blue collar job, highly paid or “just getting by,” this book is for you. A life of meaning is right under your nose, and with it the joy and peace of a life well-lived.
“David Bahnsen is a theologically grounded, vocationally minded, and Biblically focused man with a vision to make work a gift to the world. In this book, he does just that. Combining thoughtful cultural analysis, conservative economic theory, and practical application for how to live these ideas out in the real world, I am grateful for the keen insights he lays out here. This book is a great combination of ideas and application that I think will serve many well.” —Jon Tyson, Author, Pastor, Church of the City NYC
“Far too many of us believe that we need to work in order to be able to live, and that’s it. We need to eat, and so we work. David Bahnsen’s new book leans heavily in the opposite direction, meaning that God gave us the gift of life so that we might have the grace and privilege of working. Highly recommended.” —Pastor Douglas Wilson, Christ Church
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