I got the book “Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God’s Work” by Timothy Keller for Christmas. And I cannot recommend it highly enough. Personally, I know that I received it at just the right time in my life. While I wish it had been written and given to me sometime before I entered the work force, as my husband likes to remind me, perhaps I would not have been ready to receive its lessons at that time. But the years of experience I have under my belt at this stage of my career have helped me to understand and concur with Keller’s conclusions.

The book outlines the important role that work plays in our lives. It starts at the beginning with Genesis, explaining that no matter what we do, our work is meant to be an invitation to partner with God in the work of further developing that which He has created. When we work therefore, we are doing something that is patterned after God’s own great work in creation. Essentially, work was meant to be a good thing. However, the elevated purpose and expression of work quickly became corrupted by sin. Keller gives lots of examples both from the Scriptures as well as modern times of how this has come about.

Keller posits that a right attitude toward our work is critical to a healthy relationship to God. We indeed were made to work, however, all too often we fall into the trap of demonizing work, whereby we seek to live a life without it (becoming lazy and lethargic), or elevating it to such heights that we unconsciously seek our redemption through it (leading to habits of overworking and exhaustion).

Ultimately, Keller explains that work should not be the foundation of our identity. Only Christ was meant to fill that role. Instead, for each one of us, work is our way of bringing healing and redemption to the world. And you do not have to work in the field of Christian ministry to be part of this. (In fact, oftentimes you don’t even have to be a believer, as the law of common grace explains.) You can bring healing and redemption in whatever your vocation. In summary, for the believer, work should be our unique way of loving others and loving God. And when we understand that our self-worth does not come from our work then we are completely free to love others through it.

As a creative artist, my work has always been deeply important to me. However, I now understand that I often fell into the error of working for my own redemption. At various times in my life, success in my career has meant different things to me – earning a paycheck, performing for a large crowd, getting a gig at a prestigious venue, seeing my work in print, getting a book contract, etc. But as I accomplished each of those goals, I realized that the happiness they brought to me was not lasting, and very quickly I was off and running trying to achieve something bigger and better so I could have that feeling again. (Come to think of it, it sounds a lot like someone in the throes of addiction! Perhaps I was a workaholic after all!)

What the past few years have taught me is that those accomplishing those goals are not the ones that bring me the greatest joy. What brings me joy is what Keller so aptly describes as being able to love others through my work. Today I’m not so concerned with getting in the spotlight. In fact, as far as my storytelling work is concerned, one of my favorite places to perform is in the community room of a local apartment building in the inner city. The newspapers and TV reporters aren’t banging down the doors to write about my work there, but the children who live there can’t wait for my next visit to hear more stories.

As Keller points out, when you understand that your work is your way of loving God and loving others, it also makes it easier to make work-related decisions. Instead of asking, “How much am I going to make? How much press am I going to get for this? How will this advance my position within the company? etc” You should ask yourself: “How much does this opportunity allow me to love God and love others?” Simply phrasing the question like that has helped me immensely to identify where I should be investing my time and talents.

I am grateful that this book exists, as is my husband. He has already noticed the changes that this deeper understanding about faith and work has brought to my life. As a person who has long struggled both with “working for my redemption” as well as wondering if I shouldn’t be in a specifically Christian field of work, the truths shared in this book brought clarity and peace to my heart. It has also helped me to see and embrace the fact that storytelling and writing are two of the best ways that I have of loving God and others. In fact, as I have pursued both of these passions of mine, they have opened unique doors of ministry that I could never have imagined.