At the beginning of the year I was not a happy man. I wouldn’t say I was depressed, instead it might be labelled, “situational-down-and-out-ness.” In other words, I didn’t have a job. To be clear, I had put myself in this situation. When I finished my theological degree my plan was to look for part-time or casual work in a prior field of study (nursing) while volunteering in ministry at my church. This is commonly called, “tent making”. I expected to find a job as a nurse relatively easily but this was absolutely not the case and it left me feeling very low indeed.
Perhaps you know the feeling of getting the metaphorical door shut in your face every time you go to walk through it. Down every long corridor of job searching is a glimmer of hope that waits to the very last moment to close. It’s frustrating and demoralising. At the same time we are watching all our friends around us walk through those doors with what looks to us as relative ease. Now we’re frustrated, demoralised, confused and angry!
Anyways, I picked up some casual work as a labourer to pay the bills while using my spare time to write sermons, read books, and meet up with people. It was nice to be able to pay the bills and work with such lovely people but it was also a painfully humbling experience. I was working in a field I knew nothing about so I felt like I was stumbling around incompetently yet trying to do my very best. All the while I knew I had trained three years in a completely different field which felt inaccessible to me. Again, painfully humbling.
Can you relate?
Let me share with you a few things that I learnt through this time.
1) Work is still work even if you’re not paid to do it. There are so many people in our churches who are volunteering in ministry. Some will be volunteering without having a paid job. Are they without work? No. They are working without being remunerated, but they are working for the Lord. We might even say they are storing up treasures in heaven (let alone the many unseen benefits and spiritual blessings of working for the Lord here and now).
“Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labour is not in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:58)
2) Joblessness (or working in an un-ideal job) can teach us greater contentment with the necessities of life. Living in a developed western country with such high standards of living we slowly assume that such high standards are in fact the necessities. A cupboard full of clothes, a decent rental, take-away once a week, no debt, savings in the bank, a little bit of superannuation, and maybe a couple of degrees. Obviously all of these are basic necessities… Paul might think differently. Let us relearn contentment, and be abundant in our thanksgiving for God’s abundant provision in our lives.
“But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.” (1 Timothy 6:8 ESV)
3) Our value is not in what we do. Our primary identity is as children of God – which is the apex of salvation. The gospel doesn’t just address our fallen state as sinners, but incredibly takes us to the height of adopted children in God’s family! This is a wonderful antidote to our misguided self-worth in our occupations.
4) On the flipside of point 3, our pain at joblessness also shows us that we are made to work, that it’s built into our bones and that this is God’s good intention (I’m particularly thinking about remunerated work now). I don’t think it’s wrong to find part of our identity in what we are paid to do. That’s why I said earlier that ‘our primary identity is as children of God.’ This doesn’t mean that it’s wrong to answer that question, “tell me about yourself, what do you do?” by responding with our vocation or occupation or field of study. I think that it’s entirely appropriate, it’s just not ultimate. But the pain of joblessness highlights for us our intrinsic desire for work and that part of our identity which is a derivative of our work.
Some concluding thoughts on what we should do with this pain. Firstly, in recognising our unmet desire to work, we should lament that we cannot or are not working. We should pray to be restored to work in his graciousness as our provider. Secondly, let us see that our service for the saints is indeed work for the Lord. And finally, let us remind ourselves of our identity in Christ. This will provide comfort as we remember that our value is not ultimately fixed to what we do, but who we are in Christ.
Bigvai and Shiphrah 