day no. 16,531: Christian work

"The only Christian work is good work well done. Let the Church see to it that the workers are Christian people and do their work well, as to God: then all the work will be Christian work, whether it is church embroidery, or sewage farming." — Dorothy Sayers, Why Work

Christian work is defined by the direct object and the adverb.

It is Christian to hate. In fact, hate is a good work that Christians are required to engage in. Christians are commanded to hate evil. That is a good work prepared beforehand that we should walk in it.

It is Christian to love. It is required. Unless, of course, it is the love of money. That is forbidden. A Christian cannot love lucre for that is the root of all kinds of other evils. So, the direct object defines if the nature of the verb as Christian.

It can be Christian to hate and Christian to love depending on what you hate or love. You cannot hate God or love wickedness. That is not Christian. But you cannot NOT love God or hate sin. That is required and Christianity 101.

It is Christian to give cheerily, forgive immediately, obey thoroughly, plan faithfully, wait hopefully, etc... God does not merely command the what, but the how. He says what to do (verb) and to what to do it (direct object), but He also instructs for whom it should be done (indirect object) and how it should be done (adverb). In other words, God is involved in all the words. God controls all the parts of speech. God is in the grammar. He directs the subject to act in a particular way to a particular end for particular people.

God commands to our weakness and for the benefit of others. That means He tells us to do things we were not going to do without being told. He tells us a way of doing them we weren't going to employ. It also means our neighbor really needs us to do these things in His way for them. Others are ministered to through our obedience to Christ's verbs and adverbs.

There is a Christian way (adverb) to do any lawful work. Christian work is not simply work that only Christians can do (evangelism, ministry, preaching, etc...), but all good work done with a Christ-like spirit. Of course, we must engage in the uniquely Christian vocations of evangelism and Christian education, etc... but we must not neglect to drive to work in a Christian way and pay our bills like ones who worship the Lord.