by Jacqueline Isaacs, MBA, Center for Religion, Culture & Democracy Fellow • 3 minutes
On the first Monday in September, millions of Americans will enjoy a day of rest in honor of work. While Labor Day has its roots in the 19th-century labor movement, today it offers an opportunity to recognize the work Americans do every day to provide for their families, serve their neighbors, and contribute to the flourishing of their communities.
For Christians, there is something fitting about that. Genesis tells us that after six days of creating, God rested from his work. But the biblical significance of work goes far beyond the command to rest from it. From the opening pages of Scripture, work is presented as part of God’s good design, and understanding that design helps explain why our freedom to live out our faith while we work matters too.
Why Our Work Matters to God
In Genesis, God is the first worker, creating, ordering, and cultivating the world. Then He creates human beings in his image and gives them work to do. Even more remarkably, God chooses to accomplish much of His work in the world through us. He could provide food directly, like manna from heaven, but instead he works through farmers, grocers and countless others who help bring food to our tables. He could miraculously heal the sick, but most of the time he brings care and healing through doctors, nurses and other medical professionals. He could send angels to give us perfect knowledge, but instead he educates through teachers and pastors.
Theologians call this “co-laboring” with God. God sometimes acts directly in human history through miracles and angels, but the vast majority of the time God invites us to co-labor with him in his project of human flourishing.
Of course, that is not always what work feels like. While the Fall did not introduce work itself, it did introduce friction into work. The ground produces thorns and thistles. Our efforts sometimes fail to produce the results we intended. In our modern world, that friction appears in difficult coworkers, dysfunctional organizations, failed projects, layoffs, ethical conflicts, and the ordinary exhaustion that accompanies even good work.
Sin made work harder, but it did not erase God’s original purpose for it. Work remains part of his design, and Christians remain called to participate faithfully in it.
Notably, this is not only true of Christians. Every person bears God’s image and can participate in serving others and contributing to human flourishing through their work. We therefore ought to care about the freedom of all people to work according to their convictions, including those who do not share our faith.
Faith Changes How We Work
The Bible also tells us how Christians should approach our work. Colossians 3:23 tells believers, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord.” We work for God, and that should shape both the quality of our work and the way we treat the people around us.
I often tell Christian college students that when they enter their careers, they should work in such a way that it wouldn’t surprise their colleagues to find out they are Christians. Christians should be known for honesty, excellence, humility and love of neighbor. Our faith should affect the ethical choices we make, the way we respond when work is difficult, and whether the things we create ultimately contribute to the good of others.
It also means our work becomes a form of witness, even if we never directly share our faith. Most Christians will never preach from a pulpit or debate an atheist on a stage, but coworkers, customers, patients, students and clients see us work every day.
In that sense, our work can function as an apologetic. The way we work tells people something about the God we claim to serve.
Why Religious Liberty at Work Matters
Now we get to how understanding what the Bible says about work becomes a religious liberty issue. If our faith shapes why we work, how we work, whom we ultimately work for, and what we believe our work is meant to accomplish, then religious freedom cannot be limited to what happens inside a church building or a home.
First Liberty’s cases show how that can look in practice. For Coach Joe Kennedy, faithfulness meant taking a knee in prayer after a football game. For postal carrier Gerald Groff, it meant observing Sunday as the Sabbath. For physician assistant Valerie Kloosterman, it meant seeking an accommodation when parts of her employer’s requirements conflicted with her Christian convictions and medical judgment.
While these cases were fought in court, protecting religious liberty also requires strong legal safeguards that keep Americans from having to choose between their professions and their deepest convictions.
Work is not spiritually neutral. It should not be separated from our faith. If our work is one of the primary places where we are called to love our neighbors, serve God, and bear witness to him, then religious liberty must protect our freedom to do that work faithfully.
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Jacqueline Isaacs, MBA, is a fellow at First Liberty’s Center for Religion, Culture & Democracy. She is currently completing a Doctor of Ministry in faith, work, and marketplace ministry at Fuller Theological Seminary. She holds an MBA in marketing from Johns Hopkins University and a B.S. in government from Oral Roberts University.
