Daily Work: Throne or Thorn

August 31, 2008

Genesis 1:26-28

Exordium: Your work, your efforts between Sundays wherever it may be, can be a throne from which you rule over God’s creation on the earth or a thorn that stabs you as you make your way to your daily duties.
The difference between the throne and the thorn is only the little letter “e”-which can stand for “explanation.” That is the person who doesn’t see daily work as a gift and a throne of privilege and honor lacks the explanation of work found in the first chapter of Genesis.

Explication: In this eloquent and yet simple chapter which God revealed to Moses-there is a step by step description of the origin of all things, until the climax is reached in the creation of man and woman, boys and girls. Right there the Bible tells me who I am, and what makes me differ from everything else that God has made.

Here at the beginning of all things is our daily life and work-as part of our purpose in being and part of God’s purpose in making us the crown of all his creative genius.

The key word in the scripture is “dominion”-this is an honor put upon us, so that we might return honor to our maker.  The word “dominion” refers to someone who directs and leads the activities of others, someone who has the rule over others, to arrange them-to order their lives and to use them as he fulfills the purpose of God.