Redeeming Unemployment
|
Redeeming Unemployment
The number of people out of work in the UK has now risen to 2.5 million, its highest level in 14 years, and is still rising with an expectation of 3 million unemployed in 2010. Almost a million of these are 16-24-year-olds (one fifth of that entire age group), now described as a 'lost generation' in the workplace. The curse of unemployment is not just economic, it strikes at the emotional centre for many who face hardship and the long wait for work.
'Hope deferred makes the heart sick' (Proverbs 13:12).
Some people treat others as if they are worth nothing without a job, and that culture rubs off on the self-esteem of the unemployed. So, when the veneer of an identity and purpose based on a job is taken away, people ask the deep questions: 'Who am I really, and what is the point of being here?' As a Christian you can never lose your core identity by losing a job, because your identity is in Christ. You can never be unemployed in the kingdom of God because we are 'God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do' (Ephesians 2:10). The reality that we are more than a job frees us from the captivity of a purely economic model of wellbeing. Yes, we still need work and income, but our self-worth does not depend entirely on that. The authorities are desperate to restore economic growth to recreate that superficial sense of wellbeing. So they try to buy back jobs by spending and altering the value of our currency - a temporary and cyclical tactic at best. But Jesus, the ultimate authority, has already paid for us to be permanently redeemed from the discontent and futility of a life based on job security and materialism. The price he paid to prove the worth of every person was greater than anything the world can offer. Whether employed or unemployed, people who know the God of grace can hold their heads up high. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect (1 Peter 1:18-19). Author: Paul Valler |
