Good Work<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Humans may be a disobedient lot by and large, but \u201cbe fruitful and multiply\u201d (Gen 1:24) is actually one command we\u2019ve obeyed pretty well. The earth\u2019s\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/cultivare\/2012\/09\/good-work\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Good Work\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Humans may be a disobedient lot by and large, but \u201cbe fruitful and multiply\u201d (Gen 1:24) is actually one command we\u2019ve obeyed pretty well. 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{"id":1280,"date":"2012-09-26T08:00:49","date_gmt":"2012-09-26T12:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/cultivare\/?p=1280"},"modified":"2012-09-25T17:57:39","modified_gmt":"2012-09-25T21:57:39","slug":"good-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/cultivare\/2012\/09\/good-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Good Work"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"\"$ <\/a>Humans may be a disobedient lot by and large, but \u201cbe fruitful and multiply\u201d (Gen 1:24) is actually one command we\u2019ve obeyed pretty well. The earth\u2019s population currently numbers seven billion plus souls; and we\u2019re being fruitful and multiplying by the minute.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, once you go a little further into the Old Testament, and further still into the New, you find \u201cbeing fruitful\u201d is not about sex and reproduction anymore. With Israel, and especially with Jesus, being fruitful becomes all about being faithful and filling the earth with the light of Christ. I know it sounds like I\u2019m mixing metaphors here, but I do so on dependable authority. \u201cI made you to go and bear fruit in the world,\u201d Jesus tells his disciples, \u201cfruit that will last.\u201d Fruit that Jesus defines as love. \u201cYou are the light of the world,\u201d he says, also alluding to love. \u201cSo let your light shine before others, that they may see your good works [your good fruit] and give glory to your Father in heaven.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here we tend to limit being fruitful to good works of kindness and generosity we do unto others, especially to people in need in ways that inconvenience us. We gladly give time and money to charitable organizations and churches (hint, hint), and we give the gospel too, sharing our faith and forgiving our debtors as God has forgiven us. To bear good fruit is to be a good Christian.<\/p>\n

Yet bearing good fruit is not limited to good deeds, any more than being fruitful is limited to bearing children. Jews and Christians have long understood \u201cbe fruitful and multiply and fill the earth\u201d as \u201cthe Cultural Mandate.\u201d It has served as a basis for all manner of cultural activity: economic engagement, scientific inquiry, literary exploration, artistic creativity, environmental stewardship and more. Biblically speaking, to do good works<\/em> is to do good work.<\/em> To \u201cfill the earth\u201d is to make the most of the world God has made. It is our participation in the creative and redemptive work of God. To fill the earth is to make goods and services rather than just making money. (Goodness and service are very Biblical.) To be fruitful is to enable the earth and its inhabitants to flourish and shine, which gives glory to our Father in heaven.<\/p>\n

The apostle Paul writing to indentured servants, no less, whose dismal labor had to be denigrating, said, \u201cWhatever your task, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for your master\u201d (Colossians 3:22-24). When we do even our tedious work \u201cas for the Lord,\u201d it has an integrity apart from anything else it might accomplish because all work done well honors God. When we do our work as for the Lord, we will want to do it with all the skill and excellence we can muster. When we do our work as for the Lord, our work can\u2019t become an idol for which we would ever sacrifice family or health or friendship or ethics.<\/p>\n

Even if our tasks have no \u2018ultimate significance,\u2019 if done as for the Lord they do have eternal significance. To be sure, sin still pervades work as it has since Adam. But this does not negate the dignity that comes from a job well done. Our work may not be redeeming in and of itself at times, but done for the Lord, it nevertheless provides a foretaste of new creation. When we do our work is for the Lord, we bear fruit that lasts.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"