THE ORIGINAL VOCATION

By: Pastor Flávio Macieira - 2025

Day 1 of the "The Desk and the Altar: Finding God in Your Daily Work" series.

Imagine you're given a state-of-the-art smartphone, an incredible tool capable of creating, connecting, and organizing your life in ways you can hardly fathom. But, for some reason, you leave it on a shelf, admiring its design for an hour on Sunday, and for the rest of the week, for all your tasks, you insist on using a stone hammer and chisel. Frustrating, right? In a way, this is how many of us treat our faith in relation to our work. We see faith as something beautiful to admire on Sunday, but on Monday, we pick up the old, weary tools of "work as a burden" to face the majority of our lives.

This division between the altar (our faith) and the desk (our routine) was never part of God's original plan. Before there was sin, before the Fall, before there was even a need for redemption, God gave humanity its first and most fundamental vocation. He didn't deliver it in a temple, but in a garden.

The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. Genesis 2:15 (NLT)

This single verse redefines everything. Work is not a consequence of the curse of sin; work predates the curse. Work was the first gift of purpose God gave to humankind. The Hebrew word for "to tend" is abad, which can also be translated as "to serve" or "to worship." The word for "to watch over" is shamar, which means "to protect," "to guard." In its original state, our work was a form of worship. By organizing, creating, developing, and protecting God's world, we were directly serving Him. Your desk was your altar.

Yes, the Fall in Genesis 3 made work toilsome and frustrating ("By the sweat of your brow you will get bread to eat"). The ground now produces thorns, and so do our emails. But the coming of Christ began the process of redeeming all things, including our vocation. Through Him, we are invited to start seeing our work no longer through the lens of the curse, but through the lens of the garden. Every spreadsheet, every lecture, every line of code, every customer served can become an act of "tending" and "watching over" God's garden, right here and now.

Your Next Step of Faith:

Today's step of faith is an exercise in "re-commissioning." List 3 to 5 of your most common, routine work tasks. Next to each one, rewrite it not as a chore, but as an act of "tending" or "watching over." For example, "Answering emails" can become "Tending to clarity and order in communication." "Making dinner for the family" becomes "Watching over and nurturing those God has given me." See your tasks through the light of Genesis 2:15.

The Soul Mirror:

1. Honestly, do you tend to see your work more as a necessary burden or as a purposeful vocation?

2. How does the idea that your work is a form of worship change your motivation for tomorrow's tasks?

3. What "thorn" (frustration) in your current job is the hardest to see as part of God's redemptive plan?

Let's ask God to restore our vision for work.

Creator and Lord, I confess that I have often separated my faith from my work. I have treated my tasks as a burden and forgotten that it was You who first called me to tend and to watch over. Forgive my limited vision. Today, I ask You to begin redeeming my perspective. Show me how my office, my home, my workshop can be the garden where I serve You. Transform my desk into an altar. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Work isn't what we do to make a living. It's how we live out the purpose God has given us.

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