I

know, I know. Marty Sampson has renounced his faith and so has the other guy who wrote, “I kiss dating goodbye”. Then Lawrence comes along with his work theories and fulfilment. Am I also on the verge?

“Aren’t we supposed to be fulfilled in Christ?” Someone might be asking. Well, the word “work” is something that Christ himself never shied away from.

Jesus and Work

The words “Heaven” and “Hell” appear in the Gospel of John where Jesus was speaking 13 times. The word “Work” attributed to Jesus’ speech appears in the same Gospel 12 times. Ahem! I will be back.

No matter how we want fulfilment to come, there is only one foolproof way that an authentic fulfilment will be delivered in our lives, and that is through work.

We Always Know A Fake Fulfilment

Here is what I mean. It is easy to move from one temporary comfort to another. In fact, it is even attainable. However, each time you have a temporary comfort that guises itself as fulfilment, you will know that it is a fake!

Why is that? It is simple. Fulfilment is connected to the ultimate work that you are supposed to deploy. That is why it is possible for you to inherit things but feel totally empty.

That is why it is possible for you to steal, cheat, connive and destroy people on your way to the acquisition of things you want. However, at the deepest recesses of your heart, you will feel that you are empty, if not corroding inside of your heart.

Jesus Minus Work?

Someone might be asking, “So what about coming to Jesus Christ”?  Isn’t that supposed to be the ultimate way that we gain fulfilment?

Well. Christ’s mandate is actually supposed to point us towards fulfilment. He said, “I have come that they would have life and have it even more abundantly”.

The litmus test question is this: Is it true that all who have come to Christ and have not engaged themselves in work of any form have the ultimate fulfilment? The answer is a deafening “No”!

No work, No Fulfillment

If anything, people get so disillusioned when they come to Jesus and they are not fulfilled as they had been promised. For the most part, it will be those who are not working, those who are not deploying their ultimate work or purpose on earth.

The very first mandate of a human was to work, we have already established that. The premise under which this was instituted is that all things would remain constant and there would be no sin.

Work and Spirituality

The ideal was that man would take advantage of time, seeds, principles, laws, systems and processes in order to work. In other words, if there was no sin, then work would be the central theme of the existence of the human. There is no deep spirituality that is devoid of work!

This means that the ideal way that a man would be fulfilled would be not through religious activities, but through the basic call of a man—to work.

What is Fulfilment?

But let us be critical in our thinking a little bit here:

Is it really a fact that man is only fulfilled ultimately when they work? Isn’t there another way that a man is fulfilled?

“Well, what is fulfilment anyway? And is it a must for me to seek it?” Someone else might be asking.

Let me put it this way. All human beings are created for a reason. That reason is to shine the light of their glory on earth, to be a blessing on it and move on to the next life. For that to happen, work has to be done.

Humans and Work and Purpose

Humans are not mere objects of an evolutionary process that are here at the present moment, die and are forgotten.

• This explains the disquiet that is always within us whenever we are not working.
• It explains the discontentment that we have in our psyche whenever our identity is not up to speed with our work.
• It explains the many upheavals we have in life as man keeps searching for meaning.
• It explains why we have regrets, especially in our old age if we know that we did not “work” as work should have been done.

You see, fulfilment is the spiritual, psychic and intangible reward that is only obtained when you work as you were intended. Should you seek fulfilment? It honestly is up to you.

Two Ways of Fulfilment.

One thing is for sure though, the reward of your life, whether good or bad will weigh on your soul at one point in time. This will depend on how you deployed your work. Either there will be regrets or there will be massive fulfilment.

Finally, I do believe that fulfilment is in two ways. Let me explain. If I design a phone to solve a particular problem and that phone is used exactly for that reason, I will be fulfilled. If the phone had feelings, it also would be fulfilled, right?

This is because it was used to work specifically and optimally where it was designed to. The designer and the designed have this fulfilment.

The Fulfilment of the Creator

The same thing happens with the human. I believe that whenever the human works, the divine is not necessarily punishing them. The Divine sent the human on earth to “cultivate” it. The world cultivate is not just an agricultural word, it is also metaphoric.

There is a massive amount of pride and fulfilment whenever a human works as was designed to work, both for the human and the Creator.

Other things such as being reconciled back to God through Jesus are extremely fundamental so that man can work to the glory of God.

So whichever way you want to look at it, I submit to you that work is the only and ultimate place for the fulfilment of the human for the reasons shared above. What are your thoughts?