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Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
–Colossians 3:17
Work. We all do it – whether we work to earn a living, work as volunteers, or work as homemakers – or any combination of those. When it comes to earning a living, some of us find great fulfillment in our work and some not so much. For some of us, work is a major source of stress, relational conflict, and pressure. For others, it’s a beautiful environment of teamwork and collaboration. Some of us earn a good living at our jobs, while others struggle to earn enough to live.
Scripture urges us to be diligent earners – that is, people who work with commitment, purpose, and grateful attitudes. How can we measure ourselves against that yardstick? How do we gauge if we’re on the right track and identify potential areas of growth in our work? In this article, we’ll focus on principles of being a diligent earner, which assumes that we work to earn a living. But many of these principles apply to all work, whether paid or not.
Driven, Disinterested, or Diligent?
Driven earners overemphasize their careers – promotions and titles, raises and bonuses. They sacrifice other important areas of life for the sake of their work, often working long days and weekends. A need for recognition, financial insecurity, family issues and other pressures often drive this approach to work.
Disinterested earners, on the other hand, don’t commit to their work. Whether as a result of discouragement on the job or as a natural tendency, they “get by” with minimal effort. Often, they consider work as a necessary evil.
It’s Not Just About Salary
Over time, diligent earners tend to experience salary increases – but salary is not the best indication of whether we work as diligent earners. It’s possible to overemphasize earning, becoming driven earners, living without a Christ-centered balance and deriving our identity from our careers.
And being on the lower end of the salary scale is not necessarily an indication of lack of diligence in earning. Training and education, economics, experience and other factors all play important parts in determining the dollar amount on our paychecks.
As a result, our current paycheck alone doesn’t provide a reliable indication of our diligence in earning.
So, continuing the theme of our previous article…
You Might Be a Driven Earner if…
- You find your identity in your career. Promotions, titles, and level of responsibility define your sense of value. You strive for recognition and advancement in these areas, sometimes at the expense of relationships at work and at home.
- You’re constantly working overtime, even when there’s not a crisis. Many of us work overtime at some point to complete urgent tasks or projects. But you work extra even without a crisis or looming deadline. Often, this is a symptom of finding identity in work or of avoiding personal or family issues.
- You see money as your security. You’re constantly driven to earn more because having significant savings makes you feel secure. This may lead to continual job changing in pursuit of higher wages or it may lead to ongoing overtime (either a direct impact on hourly earnings or an indirect impact to salary through promotions and raises). This is often accompanied by over-saving.
- You don’t know how much you need to make. Related, you likely have not set a lifestyle cap, so you don’t know how much your desired lifestyle actually costs. As a result, you feel constant pressure to earn more – not so much because you see money as your security, but more because lifestyle creep eats up your raises and bonuses.
- You’re constantly changing jobs looking for a better income. Your focus in work isn’t on adding value to your employer but rather on the top line on your paycheck. Your career is a history of job changes for financial incentives. Most people change jobs occasionally and usually they make more at the new job; but you have a long succession of relatively short stints with any given employer.
- You consistently neglect relationships for work. As a result of working overtime and/or constant travel, relationships with family and friends suffer. You find it difficult to commit to any volunteer activities or to community because of the demands of work.
You Might Be a Disinterested Earner if…
- You watch the clock. You rarely if ever put in overtime, even when there’s a need. Workdays pass slowly because your focus isn’t as much on the work as it is on the passage of time. You “work for the weekend” and dread Mondays.
- You think of earning as trading time for money. You don’t focus on adding value as much as the amount of time you put in. You’re content to work inefficiently.
- You make no effort to grow in your skills or career. You’re content to keep doing the same thing at the same level, with the same skillset. You don’t take advantage of training opportunities (either on the job or outside of it).
- You don’t connect your work to your employer’s goals. Because your focus is on putting in the time rather than adding value, you don’t know how your job contributes to your employer’s goals. You may not have a good concept of your employer’s strategic priorities. (This can also be the fault of the employer through ineffective communication.)
- You don’t know how much you need to make. For Driven Earners, not knowing how much they need to make drives them to earn more and more. But Disinterested Earners might also be in the position of not knowing what their lifestyle costs. The difference is, if you’re a Disinterested Earner, you don’t care whether or not you’re making enough to support your lifestyle.
- Your credit card balances are increasing over time. Related, your consumer debt keeps increasing. This could be a spending problem, of course, but it could also be an earning problem – you’re not earning enough to support your lifestyle. You’re OK with this because you’re not willing to commit to working harder to improve your financial situation.
You’re Probably a Diligent Earner if…
- You see work as trading value for money. You work for the good of your employer. You don’t watch the clock and you don’t mind working extra when there’s a special need. At the same time, you don’t get your identify from work and you maintain a healthy work/life balance.
- You strive to increase your value. You take advantage of growth opportunities through training, mentoring, broadening your experience, and learning not only your craft but the industry of your employer.
- You work without complaining or arguing (Philippians 2:14-15). You maintain a consistently positive attitude. You recognize when things aren’t going right, but your words and your attitude show commitment and a sense of team.
- You treat your bosses with respect even when they’re not fair (1 Peter 2:18-20). You receive unfounded criticism or harsh feedback with grace. This doesn’t mean that you pretend to agree, but you express any disagreement respectfully. You express negative emotion when needed without placing blame. You consistently try to understand your boss’s point of view and you recognize that your boss has a wider range of responsibility and input that you may not be aware of.
- Over time, you develop a reputation as a team player and valuable resource. Because of your attitude and work ethic, others come to rely on your experience and expertise. Likely, your income also reflects your increasing value to your employer (though this doesn’t always happen!). Opportunities come your way as a result of previous success.
Becoming a Diligent Earner
If you find yourself resonating more with characteristics of the Driven Earner or the Disinterested Earner than of the Diligent Earner, don’t despair! Faithful stewardship is a journey and God will transform our hearts and ultimately our practices if we will allow him to. Here are a few thoughts to point in the direction of becoming a Diligent Earner.
Pray for Growth
Since stewardship is part of discipleship, the starting point is always prayer. Ask God to reveal to you any areas in which you need growth as a Diligent Earner. Confess any sin in the ways in which you’re showing up for work (Disinterested Earner) or for your family (Driven Earner).
Ask God to examine your heart and show you any place your to show you any place your attitudes may be falling short of honoring him (Psalm 139:23-24). Commit to living out principles of honoring God in your work.
Plan for Stewardship
Did you notice that the Driven Earner and the Disinterested Earner likely share the characteristic of not knowing how much they need to make? In the one case, that causes insecurity and drives us to work harder and longer and earn more. In the other case, not knowing leads to apathy and not caring if we’re making enough. Either way, lack of intentionality leads to life being out of balance.
The starting point to address this is tracking our earning and our spending to determine if we’re making enough. If there’s a surplus, then we can decide how to address that – with additional giving, saving, or spending – or, possibly, dialing back on our work if life is out of balance. If there’s a deficit, then we know we need to earn more (or possibly spend less). But either way, knowing where we stand is the first step.
The next step is creating a prioritized Spending Plan. We’ll talk more about this in our next article.
Rewards of the Diligent Earner
Diligent Earners find joy in their work. Some may have to look a little harder than others! But because they understand that work is primarily about honoring God, they focus more on how they’re reflecting God and serving their employers than they do on their circumstances. This leads to a sense of peace and contentment even in the midst of trying situations.
Diligent Earners maintain a balanced sense of their worth because their identity is not in work but in Christ. As a result, they can handle setbacks at work without losing confidence or questioning their value. Because they don’t base their sense of value on their careers or their paychecks, Diligent Earners maintain a healthy work/life balance, which further increases their joy and contentment.
Because Diligent Earners understand that work is part of the purpose for which they were created, they value the time they spend working. They don’t resent the necessity of work but approach it with intentionality. They look for ways that God may be refining them in what can be the crucible of work, and they experience spiritual growth as a result.
Often, Diligent Earners find that the skills they develop and the experiences they have at work prepare them for increased effectiveness in ministry and greater fulfillment in community.
These and other rewards help us understand the importance of growing as Diligent Earners and reflecting our Savior to our co-workers.