Naomi was a young graduate banker in a major financial institution. A few years into the role, she began wondering what difference she could make in the world God had placed her. The big challenge was helping people keep a proper perspective on money. She realised that the best antidote was finding a way to help colleagues cultivate a habit of generosity. 

She started encouraging fellow graduates to choose a charity and put money aside each month to help alleviate some social ills. Many came on board and started to get excited about what they could give! One of the partners heard and offered to match-fund whatever the graduates gave. The bank heard and matched whatever the graduates and partner gave.  

In one year, Naomi raised £100K for four great charities, but, more importantly, she taught the joy of giving to those who would one day likely be very wealthy. Naomi began seeing how her mission was tied to the position God had placed her in. 

Placed with purpose

'The Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he placed the man he had made … to tend and watch over it.' (Genesis 2:8,15 NLT)

In the beginning, God’s garden was perfect, but it wasn’t finished. It needed care to grow and flourish. In other words, without us the garden was going to spoil. God’s image-bearers are called to do God’s work on God’s behalf. And this is exactly what Naomi was doing by helping her friends live in a way that blessed others. 

The garden was also pregnant with possibilities. In the first three chapters of Genesis there’s no mention of tools, instruments or metalwork. But by the end of chapter four, we see that God’s image-bearers have taken the raw materials of creation and brought out their potential.  

From the start, our mandate has always been to create, cultivate and care. This mandate is true for Christians throughout all generations, cultures and nations. Followers of Jesus are called to be at the forefront of creating things that shape the world for the better – whether through music, business, politics, education, literature, science, tech and more. All our creativity is wrapped around our relationship with God. 

In the cool of the everyday

'Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day.' (Genesis 3:8) 

In the garden God would speak with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day. The word ‘cool’, however, is one normally translated as ‘Spirit’. This is more about the way God reveals himself to them rather than the time of day in which it happens. Whenever God visits humanity two important things happen:

- God shares his love with us. Above all, this is essential to our identity. It’s hard not to believe that Adam and Eve left these times with God being overwhelmed by his love for them. 

- God anoints his people with gifts and skills to demonstrate his glory, just like he did with the craftsmen and artists who worked on the tabernacle (Exodus 35:20-35) and the temple (1 Kings 7:13-51). But these gifts are also for what we sometimes think of as ‘secular’ pursuits. Eric Liddell, an Olympic gold medallist, believed that God made him fast and that when he ran, he felt God’s pleasure. Interestingly, being an athlete gave him platforms of influence that he never had as a missionary. 

All things

For both Eric Liddell, a world famous athlete, and Naomi, an ordinary graduate banker, and countless Christians throughout centuries, being with God and doing his work are intertwined. God loves us and anoints us for the work he’s given us. We too can know his pleasure in what we do.  

We never find this calling rescinded in scripture, but we do see it extended because of the tragedy of the fall (Genesis 3). Here, Adam and Eve ignore the maker’s instructions and as a result humanity is distanced from God and the very love needed to live life to the full. This trajectory of brokenness and sin continues into our present world. 

As disciples, this is where our mission field now extends. Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, taking on himself the whole of sin and suffering since the fall, he brings us a way of healing for every part of life. As Paul anticipates, Jesus’ death reconciles ‘all things’ to him (Colossians 1:20). All things! And this work of reconciliation takes shape within the mission of his church. We, now, work for the renewal of all things – meeting needs, healing hurts and shaping culture. And at the heart of everything, we get to introduce people to Jesus – the Reconciler himself.