Jobs, growth and enterprise are constantly viewed as something solely positive in the political and economical debate. More jobs are good, less jobs are bad. If a policy may lead to “fewer American/Ukrainian/Indonesian jobs”, it should be rejected. Economic growth must increase as much as possible. As long as an activity is legal and you get paid for it, it’s good and should be supported and celebrated.

The Bible, on the other hand, says that work means “doing something useful” with our hands. The Christian calling to holiness, compassion and altruism doesn’t stop when we’re earning money. On the contrary, if it’s somewhere we should live like Jesus it is at our workplace, where most of us will spend a lot of time and energy.

This is why the early Christians didn’t think that all jobs were good, such as slave trading (1 Tim 1:10), occultism (Rev 22:15) and politicians (Mt 20:25-26). The Apostolic Tradition from the third century named other jobs as well, such as gladiators, prostitutes and soldiers, as unacceptable for Christians. This is basically concluded from what kind of activities the job requires compared to what ethics are Christian called to follow.

However, as Christians try to “do something useful” in our work, we should also take a look at activities that may not be as harmful as for example being a gladiator, but rather, unnecessary. The Bible encourages simplicity and equality and says that we should not be rich, and that means that we should not consume unnecessary stuff but be sufficient with food and clothing (1 Tim 6:8) and give away one shirt of we have two (Lk 3:11). If we should not consume superfluities, we should not produce them as well.

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