Can Fulfillment at Work be Found? — Nashville Institute for Faith and Work

One of the opportunities I enjoy the most about my work with NIFW is being able to support and encourage people in their vocational journey. Helping people connect the dots between what it means to trust Christ and engage their daily work in response to the story of his grace, as well as providing a listening ear to people in moments of confusion and frustration, is a role I’m grateful to occupy.

One of the most common expressions of frustration that I hear from people who are exasperated with their work and often considering a change - many of whom are deeply committed followers of Jesus - is this: “I just don’t find my work very fulfilling.”

This is hardly an uncommon sentiment, and it’s one that’s being felt at increasing levels. Recent research has found that younger generations are less satisfied and more frustrated than older generations about work (61% of Gen Z vs. 48% of Millennials, 47% of Gen X and 42% of Boomers. Barna Group, 2021).

Before we condemn the younger generations too harshly, let’s recognize that this is a struggle every generation deals with at a significant level, and one that I’d venture each of us have wrestled with personally at one point or another. I’m nearly certain I have uttered the exact words in the quote above at one point or another during one of the difficult seasons in my own work journey.

So what’s our problem?! I think a large part of our struggle is that our perspective of what work is about and where fulfillment in life is truly found is often more reflective of the values of our self-focused culture than the Truth of God’s word.

Don’t get me wrong. Work can absolutely provide us with some measure of purpose and meaning in life. In the book of Ecclesiastes, Israel’s Kings Solomon affirms the value of finding satisfaction in our work as a way to live wisely in the present in light of eternity:

….I saw that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy their work, because that is their lot. For who can bring them to see what will happen after them?” (Eccl. 3:22)

There’s satisfaction to be found in work as a way of mirroring God with our own creative, sustaining, and restorative efforts.

Where we get ourselves in trouble is making work the object in which we seek ultimate fulfillment rather than God.

Jesus lovingly communicated this truth to people often:

To the young ruler seeking fulfillment in his riches, Jesus tells him to give away everything he has so that he can come to know that only life with God is of ultimate value.

To the woman at the well, seeking fulfillment in romantic relationships and feeling excluded by religious insiders, Jesus invites her to find real satisfaction in the mercy he warmly extends to all who turn to him with their spiritual need and follow in faith.

To Martha, busying herself to find fulfillment in works for Jesus, he admonishes her to find what she seeks in him alone.

Jesus wants us to know that only he can fulfill the deepest needs and longings of our hearts.

Our work can’t fulfill us in an ultimate way. That job belongs to Jesus alone.

Let’s not ignore feelings of dissatisfaction in our work. There are important lessons we can learn from those feelings and sometimes change is necessary. However, let’s also be sure to approach the problem of discontent at work from a biblical premise. It’s only when we approach work in light of the truth of what it’s really about - what God has created work to be and what work can and cannot provide - that we can begin to chart a course forward that leads to where satisfaction is truly found.

Seeking fulfillment in work apart from the gospel is like pouring water in a leaky bucket and wondering why it can’t be filled. Jesus sets us free from this endless cycle that each of us fall into so easily when we live with ourselves at the center of our story. He invites us into a better pursuit of approaching work as an opportunity to know and enjoy God, grow in him, and serve others as a response of gratitude for his love and service to us.