The strong sense that the world is not how it should be if there is a good and powerful God is a stumbling block to faith for many. The Biblical answer is that the world is not how it is supposed to be, but that it will be when Christ returns in glory. Particularly in Reformed Theology circles, there is an emphasis on the potential for cultural transformation, for the world to become what it is supposed to be, if Christians were to more fully integrate their faith and their work. I agree with the call to cultural renewal, but I am less optimistic about the potential results of the appropriate efforts. I am not sure how spiritual warfare works and what God wants to accomplish in cultural renewal in this age. (That is a topic for another time).

But there is an area that I am more sure about what God wants in this age …. disciples who are becoming more like Jesus Christ. And we often hear the lament that Christians are not like Jesus. And when we look at ourselves, are we able to rejoice that we are becoming more like Jesus, that we shine as lights in the world (Phil 2:15)? Isn’t it an even bigger stumbling block to faith that we are not how we should be if we have the Holy Spirit working in us to make us more like Jesus?

Becoming like Jesus, which can be labeled discipleship, is a process to be sure. Phil 1:6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. And this process requires both our work and God’s work. Phil 2:12-13 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. But there should be an undeniable witness to the reality of Christ in us in the progress that we are making in becoming more like Jesus. I have been attracted to authors who lament the lack of this witness and try to discern what we are doing wrong or missing. I will blog about some of those ideas.

But first, I want to present the idea that the compartmentalization of faith and work is one reason for the lack of increasing Christlike character in our lives. If our world of work is a place where we are not experiencing God, then this is an area of our lives where we are not experiencing God’s sanctifying work. And this is an area of our lives that has a huge influence on us and where we devote most of our time and energy. It should be the primary area where we are being shaped by God. Greg Forster expresses this problem.

“But if we do not regard our daily tasks in our work as arenas of discipleship, then by definition ‘discipleship’ is something we do as a leisure-time activity during the relatively small number of hours each week when we are not working. In such case, we have given up the overwhelming majority of our lives to being formed by the world and its standards, reserving only a tiny fraction of our lives to be formed by God.”

So the compartmentalization of faith and work presents two problems. First, we are not paying enough attention to how God might be at work shaping us through the circumstances we face at work. And two, we are not paying enough attention to how we are being conformed to the world while we are navigating our work environments.

Eph 2:10 We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, that God prepared before hand, that we should walk in them. It is not just the good works that we walk in, it is that we ourselves are to be his workmanship. And our work should be a primary area where we experience both of those aspects of this verse.

I would love to connect with you about these posts if they have stirred any thoughts or questions. Take a minute, shoot me an email at bo@leavenedlives.org, and let’s see where that takes us.