Man's fall into sin brought God's curse upon the ground, the very source of his food, and tainted his vocation. Sin affects our callings. One, our vocations often fall short—they are not what they should be, and we may never enjoy complete fulfillment in our work. Like a carpenter stuck pounding nails when what he really wants to do is build custom homes. Second, many have to resort to "tent making." Like the apostle Paul, we may have to work at something that is not our primary calling to provide for our daily bread.
Although sin distorts and warps vocation, Christ has redeemed us. He has reversed the curse, including upon our work. As Christians, we have a purpose and motive that the unbeliever does not share. From an ethical point of view, a Christian carpenter, and a non-Christian carpenter, may appear to do their tasks equally well by God's common grace. But the believer knows the one who called him. And thus, he works unto Christ, aiming to please his God, knowing that he will one day reap a reward.
That does not mean our work experience goes from one mountaintop to another. Rather, we live in the ordinary. As we see in Exodus 31 and the story of Bezalel and the tabernacle, God assigns ordinary gifts to do ordinary tasks to accomplish ordinary goals.
But that is the heart of vocation. Ordinary men and women express their love for Christ by serving their neighbors—"just doing our jobs."
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Kurt Snow serves as a ruling elder at Covenant Reformed Church of Sacramento (RCUS). He served as a member of the Board of Governors of City Seminary of Sacramento from 2000 to 2020.
