For many people going to work day after day is a real drag. It can be disheartening to roll out of bed every morning to head to a job that is no fun at all. But we go each day because quitting isn’t an option—we need the paycheck to eat, so that’s reason enough to stick it out.

From a Biblical perspective, however, there is more to a job than earning a living. Earning a living is crucial, of course, but it’s not the only important purpose for holding a job. Lester De Koster provides an interesting theological perspective on this issue in his book Work: The Meaning of Your Life (Christian’s Library Press, 1982).

The book proceeds from the premise that: “work is the form in which we make ourselves useful to others” (p. 3). That may not be the way we normally think of work, but every job, whether in an office, a shop, a factory, a warehouse, or wherever, involves doing something for other people. It involves serving others in some sense.