This book is an exploration of work, rest, and the world Christians are made to build. It reads like a challenge for middle-upper-class. John Mark Comer recognizes that his suggestion that people change jobs to find work that is better for them is a privileged suggestion, but an opportunity we should take. I appreciated the emphasis on work being a good thing of value. It’s not a new concept but is still different than the popular view. I think I learned the most from the section on Sabbath. I’ve been trying to learn how to rest. It sounds simple, but I have a hard time letting go of doing more. So framing sabbath as a life giving celebration was helpful. Lastly the section about the “age to come” was thought provoking. I’ve learned not to put too much weight in biblical interpretations on the future. But I do appreciate the challenge to the interpretation that what we do now doesn’t matter or that the spiritual world is entirely separate from the physical. Overall, I’d say this book is a good read for Christians wrestling with their relationship to work.

  • Work
    • Eden: God made us to rule
    • God works in the bible, in contrast to other creation stories
    • Good work matters, good jobs matter - create a good world
    • Unpaid work is also work (i.e. parenting)
    • Our “spiritual life” is not a separate thing from the rest of our lives
    • We glorify God by being really good humans, doing really good work
    • Sebastian Bach SDG “Glory to God Alone”
    • Jack of all trades, master of one (not “none”) - recommendation by Ben Franklin
    • Babel - humans worked for their own glory, apart from God, things go off the rails
    • Ecclesiastes - Everything is meaningless without God, but with God, everything has purpose
  • Sabbath
    • A celebration, life giving
    • Is it rest, is it worship?
    • Challenges our addiction to work, productivity
    • Egypt: working more than ever before, having more than ever before, leads to being miserable than ever
    • Rules can be helpful but the rules are not the point
  • Garden City
    • Earth will be remade, a return to eden
    • The destination the scripture looks forward to is not the heaven of popular culture, but the new earth
    • Dallas Willard: Training for reigning
    • Meaning
      1. Good work matters
      2. Our work is also practice for the next life
      3. Good deeds will come with us to the new earth (though maybe not physically)