To be sure, in 1 Corinthians 7:21 Paul says that if a slave can obtain his freedom he should do so, which shows that Paul did not consider it ideal that we labor in a role that is miserable.

“Whatever work we have, the greatest joy about the job is that we get to be there with God.” It was not an enjoyable vocation by and large. They were mistreated, and Peter was helping them to know what to do about that. It is clear from the way 1 Peter 2:18–25 talks about these slaves is that for them it was often terrible. I say that because, for example, in the early church, many slaves were converted to Christianity in the first century in the Roman Empire. So for all those reasons I would say that Joshua is on the right track here for believing that God wants us to find joy in the work of our hands in our vocational labors.īut I think the implication in the Bible is not mainly that we should refuse to work until we find the work that we think we can enjoy, but that we should take the work that we can for the good of the family, the good of the community, the glory of God, and then pray our way into the enjoyment of it and shape it in whatever way we can so that it becomes more fruitful and more enjoyable. Then in Ecclesiastes 9:10 he say, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might.” And Ecclesiastes 3:22, “There is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his work.” He ups the ante in Ephesians 5:20, “ for everything.” Amazing. He says in 1 Thessalonians 5:18 that we should give thanks in every circumstance. Then he says in 2 Corinthians 9:7, “God loves a cheerful giver.” And all of our works should be giving. Paul says in Romans 12:8, let “the one who does acts of mercy with cheerfulness.” In one sense, all of our lives, including our vocations, are service to God. God does not like begrudging, joyless service. Psalm 100:2: “Serve the Lord with gladness!” That is clear. Here is the way I go about answering it: Joshua is right to assume that God cares about whether we do what we do with joy. My question is: Is that true? Is there anything in the Bible that would incline us to believe that, if God, the good, loving, Christ-sending God, calls us to something, he would give us the grace to find it rewarding and to find joy in it? Is that not the way the Bible reads? Finding Joy That is, God doesn’t have the capacity or the will to give the person he just called into that the joy to do it. The way the question is posed seems to assume that some tasks that God might call a person to simply cannot be enjoyed. Is there a work he calls you to that he won’t enable you to enjoy? You see the difference? Would he call you to a work you can’t enjoy? That is one question. “God intends to give his people joy and thankfulness and a sense of usefulness whatever he calls them to.” The main reason is that there is another question which I think needs to be answered first namely, Would God ever call a person to a lifelong vocation in which he does not enable the person to have joy? It is not an easy question to answer the way it is formulated. A longtime listener to the podcast, Joshua in Vancouver, asks: “Pastor John, can a believer ever be called to a lifelong career for which they do not enjoy?” What would you say to Joshua? Different Question We are going to talk about work more today, because jobs for many are scarce, and people take what they can get. Yesterday we talked about living in hope when life seems aimless, specifically when a job is hard to get excited about.

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