What’s the Difference Between Our Jobs and Our Work?

Have you ever realized that when you start your career or are changing careers you look for a “job description,” but once you accept the job offer and every day after, you tell yourself and others that you are going to “work?”

We downplay our jobs and hyperbolize our work. “I’m just doing my job,” but “I have so much work to do!”

So what’s the difference between our job and our work, and how do we identify in both?

1) Our job is our trade.

Our job is how we make a living. It allows us to trade our time and talents for a wage that in turn helps us provide for ourselves and others. It is transactional, and there is nothing wrong with that. We can always change jobs, quit jobs, or maybe not even have a job. Jobs help us meet our physical needs so that we can survive in the world.

2) Our work is defined by our place and purpose.

We are more than our trade. We are not defined by our job title, but by our work ethic. Our work is how we make an impact. It allows us to maximize our influence on our communities by building up others, who then in turn can go and do the same time and time again. Work is relational, and there is nothing easy about that. Once we go to work, there is usually no going back. Once the stone has been cut, there is no redo button, and while our circumstances may change, our calling likely will not. Work helps us meet our spiritual needs by grounding us in people and places that give our lives meaning and positions us to thrive in the world.

So ask yourself, do you identify with your job or with your work? Do those around you feel the same way, and are you inviting them to help shape your identity?