Bulletin 8.25.24

This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish selfish clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy…. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no ‘brief candle’ to me. It is sort of a splendid torch which I have a hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it over to future generations. 

–  George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman (1903)

If public posturing and marketing campaigns are to be believed, the modern purpose of work can be defined thus: “Work is what you do so that eventually you won’t have to do it anymore.” No, thank you. 

The underlying message of all financial services messaging—of billions of dollars of print, television, and internet advertising, and of the entire model of careerism established in modern life—is that one works for the purpose of accumulating the capital that will then afford one the ability not to have to work anymore. Yearning for a post-work life is illustrated in marketing campaigns showing people lounging on a yacht, playing with grandkids in a lake house, traveling, and generally enjoying their freedom from a life glued to a desk or trapped in an office.

Few elements of American life are more deeply seated in our subconscious than the image of a clean break from our careers, followed by living out our golden years outside of the confines of work, office, factory, classroom, or whatever vocational venue. It is rooted in the idea that what stands between you and a thirty-year vacation is only one thing: “a number.” Achieve the (financial) number you need that will last you the rest of your life... and freedom supposedly awaits.

–  David Bahnsen, Full-Time: Work and the Meaning of Life (2024, p. 119; emphasis added)

St. Paul’s Second Letter to Timothy (1.8-12)

Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, Who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher. 

For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know Whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day. 

(Prayer)