Too Much Work

2 Nov 2007 - 09:11 — by Tim Vickers Resources » Graduates » Key Topics » Work

Work is good but it isn't God.

Whilst some people find it hard to get work in the first place, others find
it hard to get a life outside their job. There are some sectors - junior medicine,
law, the church of England (to name but three) - where there is an expectation
placed on staff to work up to 90 hours a week! At the same time, levels of stress-related
illness accounting for 8 million lost working days each year tell us this is
not sustainable.

Not only do we learn from the beginning of the Bible that work is good, we
also learn that God sets the limits for work, not the other way around. Work
must never become an idol, the thing in which we invest most of our passion
and find our main identity. Your colleagues might live for their work, but our
calling is to live for the God of work.

James took a promotion in his firm, knowing that it would put him onto 12-14
hours a day. Within six months his marriage was on the rocks, and he had to
reconsider how best to fit the many valuable aspects of his life together.
He said if only he'd known what would happen, or had been encouraged to think
through the issues earlier he'd have saved the marriage and foregone the promotion.

Remember, it is God, not our work, who provides. Praying 'Give us this day
our daily bread' isn't just for the poor or unemployed - it is for all Christ's
disciples, whatever their salary. We all rely on God's goodness for whatever
prestige or wealth we gain from our work. It is also God, not our work, who
sets our priorities. Though it is ultimately God we are serving in our work,
we shouldn't think that he is like the demanding boss who always expects overtime
and the extra mile. God in his wisdom has given us a variety of callings, only
one of which is work. So, we should not use work as an excuse not to obey him
in other areas of our life. God has also called us to rest. Whatever form our
Sabbath takes we are to enjoy it as a gift from God and an anticipation of our
rest when Christ returns. He has called us to life in his church, where we join
our Christian brothers and sisters to hear his Word and serve each other in
love. He has called us to care for our families, to love our spouses and look
after our parents and children. This will rule out several attitudes for the
Christian, in particular workaholism, but it may also involve suffering the
derision of colleagues who have no other God but their boss or bonus, or even
involve being passed over for promotion.

Paul turned down promotion every year for several years because under his
new contract he would be obliged to work until the job was finished - no matter
how late that was. He felt that his responsibilities to family and church
were more important than that, so he just kept on refusing the promotion.
Fortunately he was so good at his job that his company felt they could not
replace him - eventually they wrote a new contract for the promoted position
with a clause allowing him to regulate his working hours.

Andy started in a new job and found that everyone was staying until seven
o'clock just for the sake of appearances - most people were busy playing solitaire
on their own! He decided to buck the trend, and when the bosses saw that his
work hadn't deteriorated they accepted his six o'clock departures. Soon everyone
around him was following his lead!

The truth is that some hope is offered as companies begin to realise that Britain's
twin statistics of the longest working hours in Europe and the lowest productivity
per capita must tell a story. However, if you're going to try to buck the system
in favour of a balanced lifestyle, choose wisely with your career, and don't
expect an easy ride.

Tim Vickers