1. God is the Stakeholder in our work, and through work we can take His stake to heart.
2. God, as creator of this world, is the ultimate owner of all there is on Earth.⁷ He has made us.⁸ Without God we would not have existed. Therefore, we are His property.⁹ God is our owner or 100% stockholder.
3. Without God we would not be able to work. God does not only like to work himself, but He also wants us to work too. God has made humankind initially in such a way that we can work. He has commanded us to work already before the Fall.¹⁰ God is our employer.
4. We cannot work without God. God has created us not just so we could work imitating Him, but also to work with Him. We are His co-creators, His co-producers. We are His coworkers¹¹
5. Because all belongs to God,¹² everything we use to be able to work is God’s. God provides us with resources to work. God is our supplier.
6. Because everything belongs to God, all our work belongs to Him. Everything we do, make, and deliver is for Him¹³ To work is to return to God what we have received from Him. God is our client, our customer.
7. Because God is our stakeholder, God is in charge in our work. God is our master¹⁴, our manager, our CEO. God is our boss.
8. To work as God intended is to work from God, with God, and unto God, so that our work is His work.¹⁵ By working as God intended, we are purposive, effective, and efficient. To work without God is aimless and godless. To work as God intended is rich with purpose. God is our guide: He goes in front; He is our leader.¹⁶
9. By working, we live. Working is an essential part of our lives. Life is not just about recreation but also creation; it is not just about resting, but also about working. We also live to work. Whether it is homework, domestic work, volunteer work, or paid labor. Partly through working, we give substance to what God created us for,¹⁷ we fulfill our destiny. Partly by working, we develop and get identity, we come into our own, and we give meaning to our existence. By working, we are human, humans according to God’s will.
10. By working, we expand God’s work, we realize His aims in the world, we build His Kingdom, we align the world with His intentions, and we repair His work that we broke. Our work, regardless how broken, is part of God’s masterpiece. God deploys us to do the actual work¹⁸. We are God’s servants, His helpers, His ground crew.¹⁹
11. By working, we exploit, maintain, and develop the world—God’s world, God’s creation.²⁰ We continue what God initiated, we partake of God’s creation, we fulfill His creative intentions, and fulfill His assignment. We are God’s stewards, His implementers, His executors.²¹
12. By working the way God has intended, we reflect God’s character, we show that we are created in His image,²² and fill our working place with His image. Work is a creative expression of who and what we are as image bearers of God the Creator. By working we testify about God to others.²³ We are God’s ambassadors, His representatives, His agents, His lobbyists.
13. By working, we discover the many opportunities to do good works that God offers us and has intended for us.²⁴ To work is to discover God’s goodness. We are God’s discoverers, His scientists, His researchers.
14. By working, we discover the talents that God has given us, and we can develop these talents. And by working we can deploy these talents for God and humanity within or outside of our work, now or later.²⁵ To work is to invest in God. We are God’s investors, His entrepreneurs.
15. By working, we let God work in us and on us, so that He forms, refines, deepens, and fortifies our lives and our faith in Him. Work is a working place of God’s Holy Spirit to work on our faith in Him. We are God’s working place.²⁶
16. By working, we let God work through us.²⁷ By working God reveals himself. By working God shows himself to the people for whom and with whom we work. In our work we are God’s conduit, His mouthpiece, His channel, His transmitter.
17. By working, we are tested, purified, and strengthened in our faith in God.²⁸ Work is an internship towards eternity.²⁹ We are God’s interns, His trainees.
18. By working, we obey God. After all, work is demanded by God and by working in the way God intended, we obey God.³⁰ Work is responding to what God demands of us. Work is saying “yes” to God. To work is to comply with God.
19. By working, we follow Jesus, who called on us to follow Him in His work on Earth.³¹ It is not for nothing that Jesus calls those who follow Him “laborers.”³² We follow by working. We are God’s followers.
20. By working, we use the gifts and qualities we received from God.³³ To work is to let God’s investment in us pay off. We are God’s investment, His yield, His returns.
21. By working, we can enjoy what God gives us in and through work³⁴. Work offers us satisfaction, happiness, and joy. We are God’s enjoyers, His supporters, His admirers.
22. By working, we can please God. God loves work; therefore, He loves it when we work. God loves it when His children work as He intended. God can enjoy the esthetic creativity in our work. We are God’s artists.
23. By working, we offer God the possibility to take care of us and other people.³⁵ By us working, God ensures that we provide for our own livelihood and that of our neighbors, among whom are those who cannot work and need help.³⁶ We are God’s caregivers.
24. By working, we make it possible for God to alleviate us and our fellow human beings from the consequences of sin, like repressions, hunger, illness, and criminality. A doctor cures the ill; a police officer corrects injustice; a soldier brings peace, and a contractor builds dikes against floods. We are God’s pressure alleviators, His rescue workers, His emergency troops.
25. By working, we enable others to work and develop and flourish according to God’s plan. Work offers work. We are God’s employers, His intermediaries.
26. By working, we spend our time wisely.³⁷ God did not create us to be lazy and let Him do all the work. We live only once on this world and our time is limited, so there is no time to lose. Working is a God-given use of time.
27. By working, we avoid committing sins that come from not working.³⁸ Idleness is the devil’s workshop. Laziness leads to parasitic behavior.³⁹ Boredom causes hostility. Working is a weapon against sin.
28. By working, we show that we believe in God. After all, working from faith is a fruit of faith.⁴⁰ To work is to testify.
29. By working, we assign value to God and His relationship with us. By working, we give meaning to what God means for us and we for Him. To work is to appreciate God; to work is to assess His value for us.
30. By working, we give thanks to God, show our gratitude for the work, and for the peace he made with us. Through work we sacrifice ourselves and the fruits of our labor to God. Work is an altar.⁴¹
31. By working, we worship God.⁴² To work is to praise, laud, honor, and to glorify God. Working toward God is to worship God. Our workplace is a place of pilgrimage, a place of worship.⁴³
32. By working, we have the opportunity to testify to God’s goodness in situations and to people, which we would not have otherwise.⁴⁴ Work is place for evangelism.
33. By working, we can maintain, build, and expand, our community of faith: through the money and goods we receive from our work and the knowledge and experience acquired during our work.⁴⁵ To work is to work on our community of faith.                        

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Questions

1. Do I believe that God is the Stakeholder in work? If not, do I think that God has any interest in work? (#1)
2. With which role as stakeholder of God in work (i.e., owner, employer, supplier, client, supervisor, leader) do I identify most? And the least? Which roles do I experience most and least frequently in my work? (#2-8)
3. Described above are several aims of work. Which of these do I endorse? Which don’t I endorse? Are there any aims missing from the list? (#9-33)
4. Described above are various roles that people can fulfill in work (e.g., caregiver, intern, investor). With which roles do I identify? And, more importantly, which roles do I experience in my work? For example, do I experience that I am God’s artist in my work? (#4, #10-25)
5. If somebody were to ask me how I see work from my perspective as a Christian, how would I answer?
6. To what extent do I see (my) work as an altar, a place of prayer, and a place for evangelism? (#30-32)
7. Do I have any experience with the claim that laziness leads to parasitic behavior? (#27)
8. If God did not exist, how would that change my work?
9. If I could underline three sentences above to never forget them, which sentences would that be?