By Bailey Law
Class of 2023
In my major in college there was always disappointment. In the Sustainable Development department at Appalachian State, we studied the world’s problems and the outlook was grim. We would look at the painful parts of our world, like poverty, racism, and other issues, and study the ways people have tried to go about fixing them. We never really arrived at an answer to the world’s problems (shocking, I know), and many of us were frustrated that we weren’t offered a quick fix. After all, we were in this major to change the world! To be honest, I became a little disillusioned with the hope of making a real impact in the world.
This semester our seminary class has been focused on cultivating a biblical worldview in our culture. How are we to live as Christians in this postmodern world? A large part of our investigation this semester has centered on the topic of work. Work, in all its dignity and depravity, is meant for us to join God in cultivating his kingdom. While work was created by God and existed before the fall in really good and meaningful ways, it is tainted by sin and we experience this brokenness every day. Our work will never truly satisfy us, though we want it to. We won’t be able to achieve the impact we desire because our work is tainted by the fall.
Reflecting on my studies in college, this is, in a weird way, very comforting. Of course we haven’t found the answer to the world’s problems! Just looking at the social, racial, and economic issues in one area of one city is overwhelming. Though I have dreams to impact my city and my world for the better, and I can work toward those dreams with all of my heart, those dreams will never come to full fruition in this life. Even if they are kingdom dreams, my work is still cursed as long as we live on this earth.
Well, that’s pretty dismal. But there is good news.
For those of us in Christ, our work can be redemptive. This is what it would look like to join God in cultivating his kingdom - to push back the fall with the gifts, opportunities, and passions God has given us. How exciting it is that we are free from the burden of making work fulfill our desires, but that we get to join God in the work he is already doing in the world through our creativity and efforts.
We can rest knowing that even though our work won’t fulfill us and we won’t achieve the impact we desperately desire, there is an age coming when everything, including our work, will be made new. We will work in a world restored - in a social order, an economic system, a relational network restored. On that day we will see the bigger picture of the piece of the puzzle God is giving us right now. As our professor/pastor Mark Upton would say, this life is your internship!