I gave a brief devotional last night for some college students studying for finals, and chose to speak on the God-ordained nature of work and study. These ideas have been very important to me over the years in thinking through my own place in life, and I hoped they might help the students as they focused on studying, not normally something most of us enjoy doing. I thought I’d turn my notes into a post here in case others can benefit.

As a text, I chose Genesis 1:27-31:

God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so. God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good.”

I focused especially on the boldface portion. I also supplemented with these additional passages, first from Genesis 2:15:

The Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.

and then Genesis 2:19:

Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name.

There are several aspects to the key command

The key command in Genesis 1 is this:

Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule over…

We were created in the image of God, to reflect his glory and greatness and to help take care of his beautiful creation.

Some have summarized the basic command as “multiply and have dominion”:

  • Multiplication: There’s an easy-to-understand aspect here about reproduction, going and filling and populating the earth, spreading out and building. However, this was not just to be a physical multiplication but a spiritual multiplication – multiplying not people who were hostile to God but multiplying God-worshippers who reflect his image and reveal his greatness.
  • Subduing/ruling: This involves taking care of God’s creation under his authority, extending his rule over the earth, bringing order, and even discovering. I like to think this involves asking, “How can we make the best of God’s glorious creation?” – not that He needs us to make something of it, but he allows us to be part of the process.

Thus, here, at the very beginning of creation, we already see the foundations for the idea of work as something God has ordained and commanded. And studying, such as in the context of finals, is just another type of work. Here, by “work”, then, I will talk about work broadly defined – work that includes studying, formal work in the workplace, but also, many other things that we do like chores, etc.

The further verses provide additional insight

I also quoted a couple verses from Genesis 2; one tells Adam and Eve to cultivate and keep the garden, which reinforces this idea of stewardship and caring for creation.

It’s important to note that these commands were given even before the fall in Genesis 3. God’s mandate was to cultivate and keep, to fill and subdue, to rule. And as if that wasn’t already clear enough, God further expands on this in Genesis 2:19, where he brought all of the animals to Adam to name. At the time, a name meant far more than it does today; it represented the character of the entity in question. Therefore, this was a large, even monumental task that God had given Adam; in doing this, he was beginning the process of ruling the creation under God and doing so by organizing, collating, etc. To some extent, we could say that he was even beginning the sciences of biology, zoology, and taxonomy.

Again, this was before the fall, before sin entered the world. Adam already had God-ordained work to do. Work was not a result of the fall.

So what? God designed us to work

Sometimes, we tend to think work resulted from the fall, from sin, and thus is not part of God’s design. We live in a culture which elevates the vacation and the weekend. We long for the weekend, for vacation, for finals to be over, for break. “TGIF” is ingrained in our culture, and “Monday again” is a common complaint.

In contrast to this attitude, though, we see here that God designed us to work, from the very beginning. The fall brought sin into the world and our hearts and corrupted work. Worse, part of the curse of the fall was that work became more difficult and began to involve great toil. But work itself was part of God’s design from the very beginning.

Work allows us to reflect God’s glory in a way. When we work, we can reflect some of God’s attributes in a limited way. We can reflect his understanding (as we come to understand more of his creation and the world around us), his joy in creating (as we create), his knowledge, his justice, his truthfulness, his wisdom, his goodness, etc. There’s joy to be found in reflecting his attributes; I’m not sure about you, but I can find real delight in creating and believe that is only a small reflection of the joy God found in his own creation.

The coming of Christ did not change this

The coming of Christ did not change or end the role of work, nor does salvation. If anything, salvation sanctifies work. If we’re Christians, instead of working out of a sense of obligation, to make ends meet, or merely because God commanded it, we can work out of worship.

Romans 12:1 says:

Therefore, I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

This marks a great transition in Romans from looking at what God has done for us in Christ, in saving us, to looking at how we ought to live – and that life is to be lived as an act of worship.

Jesus’ work on the cross begins the process of restoring work to its intended role, the role it had before the fall. No longer is work just about subsistence, for the Christian, it can be worship – even the most mundane and difficult tasks.

Work for students

All of this applies to you as students, even as you face exams. We’ve been studying through 1 Corinthians, and in 1 Cor. 7, Paul addresses the issue of marriage and whether Christianity calls the Corinthians to change their marital status. His answer is “no”, and in v. 17 he explains:

Only, as the Lord has assigned to each one, as God has called each, in this manner let him walk.

The exhortation is to live out the station you are called to, not to try for a different one. In this specific context, it’s dealing with marital status, but the principle is true more broadly – we should seek to serve and please God as we do whatever he has called us to, not focus on longing for a better situation. (Yes, there are times we should seek to change our situation; that’s a separate issue.)

As you face finals, you are called to be students, called into exams. If you’re like I was as a student, you’d probably rather be doing almost anything else except studying. Perhaps you want to play a game, take a break, plan activities for break, read the news, talk to friends, clean your living space, etc. But God has called you to THIS.

Studies fall within the scope of God’s design. We seek to understand God’s creation and the world as part of ruling over the earth/taking care of it for him. That takes study, and work. That means as you study now, you can see it as part of fulfilling this mandate which came even before the fall.

A couple other key verses

Famously, 1 Cor. 10:31 says

Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

So, then, study to the glory of God.

Eccl. 9:10 says

Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might…

Likewise, do your best in studying.

And, we can do this out of worship. Mark 10:45 tells us, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Christ served us through his sacrificial death for our sins; let that be the motivation to study, because he has already done so much for us.

What should be our attitude, then?

To conclude, let’s be reminded to see study and work not as a result of sin (though sin affects them) but as something we ought to do as worship. These are part of God’s creation order and in them we participate in the fulfillment of God’s good plan.

Let’s walk as God calls us to, out of gratitude for how he has already done so much for us through Christ.

As you face finals, then, study not primarily to get the grade you want, but as part of fulfilling this creation mandate to Adam. Yes, you’ll get a grade. But study for God out of worship and gratitude for what he has done, and cast your cares concerning the grade on him (Phil. 4:6-7).

Study knowing that work is not just something to suffer and grind through, but part of God’s great plan for mankind, given even before the fall. Study even now for the glory of God out of worship.