Tom Nelson teaches us how to “[connect] Sunday worship to Monday work” in his book Work Matters. He depicts work as something that can be dull and prosaic. However we can change this mindset and view work as serving the Lord and doing God’s work in the world. Nelson advocates that we achieve a balance between theology and practicality in our day-to-day lives. He outlines how we should seek out our vocation that is unique to ourselves and join God in his work.

In his book, Nelson provided sufficient real world examples as well as incorporated biblical text into his writing. I thought it was particularly interesting that he wrote, “Vocation is a robust theology of ordinary, everyday life”. He emphasizes that the call to work is exclusive to the called and Jesus. To a lot of us, work is merely a means to an end. Work is employment, not worship; and that is exactly what Nelson aims to transform. He believes that Sunday worship and Monday work can elegantly converge. After all, that is the purpose of God calling us to work; it is that in our work, we glorify Him.

One might argue that it would be extremely difficult to read this book without being religious. Even though it is geared towards a Christian audience, Nelson explains how our work has a greater significance than we think. Through this he highlights that we should snap out of being workaholics and turn our work into worship. For instance, the Greeks interpreted that work was an important value for men, and that “Man is known by his works”. We can still see this today, we place people in different socioeconomic levels based on what their work is.

Something that stuck with me throughout the book was the idea that God ruled over all men and women. He was the creator of all things, including the work that we do. Therefore He makes the final judgment of the value of our work. We are all called to work as God does (Genesis 1:28). Since God is eternal and everlasting, stewarding every individual without rest, our call to work is therefore one that lasts a lifetime. It is interesting looking back on certain points in my life where one decision would have led me somewhere completely different. We might not even realize the call to work that God has for us, but we do it naturally anyways.

In the Garden of Eden, God called Adam and Eve to work and serve Him and maintain what He has created. Through the work that God called Adam and Eve to do, they found fulfillment, as did God in the creation of the world (Genesis 1:31). However, when they disobeyed God and practiced “bad” work, they were alienated from God. This led to Adam and Eve stuck in suffering, as Eve is cursed with the pain of childbirth and Adam is cursed with his work on earth, as they were abandoned from the Garden of Eden. This raises the question that separates men and women in work: are men and women called to work differently? What separate duties do we have and what can we bring to the table?

C.S. Lewis once said, “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but by it I see everything else”. This is the reason why we believe in our call to work, because it leads us to places that we never thought we would be at present day. Therefore, Nelson proposes that we need to make the most of our vocational calling and “join God in his work in the world”. Only through this, that we can discover a new perspective of work and feel the transformation of our workday.