Did you know that God designed work as a source of worship and wonder, a task that would provide deep and rich satisfaction? Right away, you might read that and think, “Really? My job? If you only knew what I do day in and day out, I’m not sure it’s all that satisfying and wondrous.” And you may be right, because, in many ways, the idea of work has been distorted by sin and the fall in Genesis 3. That’s what God means when He tells Adam that “cursed is the ground because of you” (v. 18), and “by the sweat of your face you will eat bread” (v. 19).
However, elements of the original design of work are still present in all our jobs. Scripture is clear that God has uniquely wired us with strengths and skills, with various measures of grace that can be applied to redemptive and kingdom work. One of the ways we can better understand how God is inviting us to view our work today is by looking back and studying how God intended work to be done before the fall, when he first created Adam and Eve and “hired” them to perform the first jobs recorded on planet Earth.
This article will examine the six defining realities found in the Genesis 1 commission of work for humanity. Each of these realities was an essential component of the original design for work, and though sin has marred the idea and application of work, it has not and cannot entirely remove these realities from our work today. When we take God’s original design for work and overlay it with our current practice, we begin to see the blueprint for a God-glorifying and others-edifying pursuit of work.
Each of these defining realities comes from Genesis 1:28, a verse found immediately after the establishment of the ‘imago dei’ or the truth that God created man and woman in his image to reflect him to the world. Genesis 1:28 reads,
“And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
From this verse, let us call out our six defining realities of work from God’s original design.
Defining Reality #1 - Work was meant to be done from blessing and not for it.
You only need to look at the first four words of Genesis 1:28 to see the first defining reality. Observe the order of these words compared to what follows. Before God commissions humanity to “do” anything (i.e., be fruitful, multiply, fill, etc.), He blesses them. We must start here because it is the most commonly warped ideology of work - that we must work for God in order to receive his blessing. However, the original design for work is that it comes FROM blessing. Before the work begins, God blesses.
For some of you, this will change everything. You don’t have to strive to earn, but you have received, so you can operate from grace.
Defining Reality #2 - Work was meant to be done with growth and not decay.
After God blesses humanity, He gives them their first mandate: “Be fruitful and multiply.” The Hebrew words here are pārâ and rāḇâ. You don’t have to be a Hebrew scholar to understand the implications of these words; God designed work to be done in a way that things grow and increase. And not only numerically, or using the business metrics of today. Work that is holy and pleasing to the Lord is work that fosters flourishing and not that detracts from it. We can care immensely about ROI, profit margins, and customer satisfaction, which aren’t inherently bad, but all the while, the Spirit is gently guiding believers to ask, “Is my work bearing fruit and multiplying the flourishing of humanity with dignity and joy?” Any good thing can become an idol if that thing becomes our center of focus rather than the Creator of all good things. Which leads to our third defining reality.
Defining Reality #3 - Work was meant to be done to fill the spaces God has assigned for us to occupy.
After God says that humanity should be fruitful and multiply, He adds a little clarification to explain where this increasing abundance should be focused. He says, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth…” Why is this important for you and me today? Because the point of our work shouldn’t start by focusing inward on what we can gain, collect, or harbor as a result of our labor. No, our work should fill the spaces God has assigned for us to occupy. Our first parents were invited to fill the Earth, but you may be invited to fill your cubicle block, or to fill the floor you work on, or maybe even to fill your whole company with the increasing abundance, the multiplied fruit, of work being done as unto the Lord.
We were never intended to be the end beneficiary or primary recipient of our work. God’s intention for work was that it would always be rooted in an outward-facing mission - that we would do what He mandates for the betterment (the filling) of those people and spaces around us.
Defining Reality #4 - Work was meant to be done in an orderly manner, not chaotically.
For all the type-A, Enneagram 1s out there, you likely just gave a hearty AMEN! It’s true, God intended in His original design for work that we would bring into order what we put our hands to, or the word He uses in Genesis 1:28 is that we would “subdue it (the earth).” Why does this matter? We see woven throughout the message of Genesis 1 that God is a God of structure and life, that He gives boundaries, and then helps things bloom within those boundaries. Structure-less work isn’t healthy work; it reflects the nature of the “deep waters” mentioned in Genesis 1:2, signifying chaos.
Now, this doesn’t mean that all work must be done with a paper planner or Palm Pilot (throwback for the millennials reading). God loves structure, but He also loves creativity. And design. And things that can’t be captured on a nice, clean spreadsheet. However, it does mean that there is a way of working, a framework, that leads towards a settled and secure soul.
Defining Reality #5 - Work was meant to be done with God’s authority, not our own.
The final mandate God gives humanity is to “have dominion,” or to rule. Work was always meant to be a tool through which we could represent God to His creation, as the visible stewards of the invisible God. However, sin has warped our view of work in such a way that we seem to value starting our own ventures more than stewarding God’s. We are tempted to be a founder more than a representative when God is saying, “I’ve already founded the mission (and funded it), I just need people to represent me and to exercise my dominion.”
Work would look very different if, instead of focusing on being leaders as most common business content promotes, we focused on being liaisons of the one, true King and Creator.
Defining Reality #6 - Work was meant to be done together.
The last defining reality is seen by revisiting the start of verse 28 and identifying the pronouns. Who is God speaking to? Twice, He uses the word “them.” He blessed them and said to them. We have shifted the ideology of work in such a twisted fashion that work has become all about us. Our achievements. Our salaries or compensation. Our contributions. However, the original design of work was a collective invitation. Yes, individuals still had unique and different roles (see Genesis 2 for Adam’s role in naming the animals); however, there is a higher reality evident in Genesis 1 that work was meant to be done together. It was meant to be done in community, from blessing, chasing after growth, flourishing, order, and stewardship.
It is God who works in you
It doesn’t matter so much what you do for work. Notice that God’s mandate in Genesis 1:28 didn’t include a formal title or a specific job description. The what isn’t God’s main focus; the how is. And how we work can be applied in every industry, company, or venture.
In case you walk away from this article feeling a weightiness of trying to align all of these defining realities into your work, let me leave you with two thoughts. First, these mandates: be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth, given to humanity in Genesis 1, are nearly all mirrored in Genesis 12-17 when God is speaking to Abraham and giving him the Abrahamic Covenant. The only difference is that in chapters 12-17, God is not inviting Abraham to do these things. God is saying that He will do these things for Abraham. God will multiply him, make him fruitful, and fill the Earth through him.
Later, in the New Testament, God would say, through Paul, that He is the one who works in us, to will and to work for His good pleasure.
So take heart! God instituted a beautiful design for work in Genesis 1, and when we rebelled against him, falling into sin, He didn’t abandon us and our work. He stepped in and declared that He would do the work in us and through us. So lean on Him today, and watch as He transforms your working ways.
