The Age of AI by Jason Thacker

Author:Jason Thacker
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Zondervan
Published: 2020-01-07T00:00:00+00:00

WHY WE WORK

When you think about your job, what comes to mind first? Do you lament the “grind” or the “ole nine to five,” longing for the clock to strike 5:00 p.m. so you can go home, relax, and live your real life? Do you dread your daily commute, like so many drivers these days, who on average drive 101 minutes each day, spending nearly 4.5 years of their lives in the car?1 Do you anxiously await your paycheck every week because you live paycheck to paycheck and don’t know how you’ll make ends meet each month? Do you fear that your job might soon be cut because of the new technology your boss has been talking about lately, which supposedly can do the work of two employees?

Your first thought when asked about work probably reveals more about your understanding of work than you think. Properly understood, our jobs are not primarily something we do to pay the bills, care for our families, and keep us occupied (all of which are true). Our jobs are primarily about glorifying our God and reflecting him. But amid the hustle and bustle of the day, we often forget the true purpose to our work.

In Genesis 1:28, we read that God gave his image-bearers jobs to do. They were to tend the garden and care for the animals. These jobs reflected the work that God does, just as our work continues to reflect God today. Pastor Tim Keller explains how our work reflects God by saying that our “work has dignity because it is something that God does and because we do it in God’s place, as his representatives.”2 Work was part of creation and was given to mankind before the fall. Our work is not a product of sin. Work is not punishment or something that we are forced to do because of our rebellion against God. God created us to work, for his glory and for our good.

Regardless of the type of work we do, God has more in store for us than just paying the bills and punching a time card. Work is given to us so that we can reflect God better in this life and so that we can help others flourish through what we produce and contribute to society. Obviously, certain types of work are problematic for Christians to perform or be a part of, but on the whole, all work is meant to glorify God and help us love our neighbor. Humans started off tending the garden of Eden. Now we design machines to tend our gardens for us, planting, fertilizing, weeding, and harvesting crops without our needing to break a sweat. We are living in the midst of an amazing transformation of the workforce. But how did we get here?

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.