In recent years, Christian scholars have reflected in fresh ways on a theology of work. It can be devastating when people are unable to engage in meaningful labor. "It's perfectly natural to be ill at ease about becoming unemployed and to be frustrated and anxious," Ben Witherington, author of Work: A Kingdom Perspective on Labor, told Christianity Today. "I don't think that most Christians have thought seriously about what the Bible says about work."
When the vision of work is not rooted in Scripture, people fall back on a lesser notion: the perfect job. "Christians have associated vocation with job," said Gene Veith, author of the 2002 book God at Work, noting that job is a secular word, while the word vocation has rich theological meaning.
Vocation is defined as God calling us to serve and love our neighbors. This is something one never loses, Veith said. According to the Reformers, Veith said, there were three vocations: the family, the church, and the state. A paying job is only one aspect of the family vocation.
"We invest so much of the meaning of our lives in our jobs," said Veith, provost and professor at Patrick Henry College. "That's our identity, that's what gives our life reason, that's why we get up in the morning. When that is taken away, we feel purposeless. That mindset has led us to neglect our other vocations and callings."
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