Your Work Matters to God by Doug Sherman and William Hendricks - Book Review
Will religion loose its relevance? From reading this book, I’ve come to realize that loosing relevance is the greatest threat to religion.
The world today has different heroes from those in the field of religion, including from Christianity. And ministers have not really helped with the situation as they continue preaching a message which is far removed from what people are facing on a daily basis. This leaves an odd feeling among people that most of work doesn’t matter to God. Because, if people who supposedly speak for God think little of their world, then God must think likewise. For this reason most people are dismissing religion and God as irrelevant.
The Authors show that the church has grown virtually silent on the subject of work and there seems to be a disparity between the emphases of most Christian teaching and the way most people live. Many workers in the modern marketplace feel increasingly bored with their jobs and life. The book shows that this is due to Purposelessness in work. Due, at least in part, to the fact that Christianity has retreated from the current culture.
Doug and William point to another related fact of our time which is the widespread compromise of ethics in the marketplace. They’ve termed it a Moral Schizophrenia. A simplistic assessment would say that this is due to the increasing complexity of ethical issues; as we are facing questions and choices no one ever faced before but that is not the only reason!
The book argues that this situation has led to careerism – the idolatry of career, such that it establishes one’s worth. Consequently, the career has become untouchable. Marriage, children, friendships, even morals if necessary, must accommodate themselves to career demands or else be left behind. The long-term consequence has been the creation of an unnecessary gap between Christianity and work.
But Jesus is Lord. And as such, He is not interested in merely bridging the gap, but in eliminating it altogether. We must bring the entirety of our lives back under Him by a new and refreshing sense of dignity and meaning of work, by encouraging a sense of destiny and calling in work, by a motivation to pursue a lifestyle of ethical distinction on the job, by having a comprehensive view of life that relates work to spirituality etc.
Who is the culprit? Doug and William point to four assumptions and try to debunk them including 1) God is more interested in the soul than in the body’ 2) the things of eternity ae more important than the things of time 3) life divides into two categories, the sacred and the secular and 4) ministers and other clergy are more important to God’s program than the laity.
They mainly show that God does not deal with you just as a soul only. When he created you, He created all of you, as a soul and as a body. So God’s interest is not simply that we do holy activities but that we become holy people. That all we need to do is to find a job we love and that is worth doing and the book shows how to find the balance between the two.
The authors caution us on two pitfalls: 1) God doesn’t care – this idea springs in our mind in times of difficulty. 2) God doesn’t matter - this idea springs in our mind in times of prosperity or plenty.
4 Extracts from the book:
1. “I find that most professionals, and especially most men hold a mild skepticism towards the faith. They feel that something abstract like faith can’t stand the rigors of the street. They attend church on Sunday, and so forth. But religion is a short of weekend hobby, like golf or fishing. Come Monday, it’s time to put away those toys and get back to the “real world”
2. “In nothing has the church so lost her hold on reality as in her failure to understand and respect the secular vocation. She allowed work and religion to become separate departments, and is astonished to find that, as a result, the secular work of the world is turned to purely selfish and destructive ends.”
3. “Loss of self – by equating self-worth with career success, the careerist builds his life on a very shaky foundation. Any setback or change in the workplace acts like a psychological earthquake, damaging if not demolishing his sense of identity and value. This leads to some obvious tragedies such as suicide”
4. “I suggest that we have come to the day of the layperson, the day when the key operative in the Church is not the pope or a saint or a monk or an evangelist or a missionary or even a highly committed churchman – but the everyday worker who simply puts Christ first in his or her career, as the rest of their life.”
The world today has different heroes from those in the field of religion, including from Christianity. And ministers have not really helped with the situation as they continue preaching a message which is far removed from what people are facing on a daily basis. This leaves an odd feeling among people that most of work doesn’t matter to God. Because, if people who supposedly speak for God think little of their world, then God must think likewise. For this reason most people are dismissing religion and God as irrelevant.
The Authors show that the church has grown virtually silent on the subject of work and there seems to be a disparity between the emphases of most Christian teaching and the way most people live. Many workers in the modern marketplace feel increasingly bored with their jobs and life. The book shows that this is due to Purposelessness in work. Due, at least in part, to the fact that Christianity has retreated from the current culture.
Doug and William point to another related fact of our time which is the widespread compromise of ethics in the marketplace. They’ve termed it a Moral Schizophrenia. A simplistic assessment would say that this is due to the increasing complexity of ethical issues; as we are facing questions and choices no one ever faced before but that is not the only reason!
The book argues that this situation has led to careerism – the idolatry of career, such that it establishes one’s worth. Consequently, the career has become untouchable. Marriage, children, friendships, even morals if necessary, must accommodate themselves to career demands or else be left behind. The long-term consequence has been the creation of an unnecessary gap between Christianity and work.
Who is the culprit? Doug and William point to four assumptions and try to debunk them including 1) God is more interested in the soul than in the body’ 2) the things of eternity ae more important than the things of time 3) life divides into two categories, the sacred and the secular and 4) ministers and other clergy are more important to God’s program than the laity.
They mainly show that God does not deal with you just as a soul only. When he created you, He created all of you, as a soul and as a body. So God’s interest is not simply that we do holy activities but that we become holy people. That all we need to do is to find a job we love and that is worth doing and the book shows how to find the balance between the two.
The authors caution us on two pitfalls: 1) God doesn’t care – this idea springs in our mind in times of difficulty. 2) God doesn’t matter - this idea springs in our mind in times of prosperity or plenty.
4 Extracts from the book:
1. “I find that most professionals, and especially most men hold a mild skepticism towards the faith. They feel that something abstract like faith can’t stand the rigors of the street. They attend church on Sunday, and so forth. But religion is a short of weekend hobby, like golf or fishing. Come Monday, it’s time to put away those toys and get back to the “real world”
2. “In nothing has the church so lost her hold on reality as in her failure to understand and respect the secular vocation. She allowed work and religion to become separate departments, and is astonished to find that, as a result, the secular work of the world is turned to purely selfish and destructive ends.”
3. “Loss of self – by equating self-worth with career success, the careerist builds his life on a very shaky foundation. Any setback or change in the workplace acts like a psychological earthquake, damaging if not demolishing his sense of identity and value. This leads to some obvious tragedies such as suicide”
4. “I suggest that we have come to the day of the layperson, the day when the key operative in the Church is not the pope or a saint or a monk or an evangelist or a missionary or even a highly committed churchman – but the everyday worker who simply puts Christ first in his or her career, as the rest of their life.”
Muhindo Malunga Lusukiro
Reflections on life, humanity, development and leadership
muhindoml@gmail.com | +243 993 401 064
Skype: Muhindo Malunga Lusukiro (muhindoml) | Twitter: @muhindoml
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