Emphasis Preaching Journal

Paul claims that all are part of the Body, all our jobs are equally esteemed and indispensable. This is not in line with ordinary human thinking. And yet poll data and neurobiology seem to verify Pauline wisdom. It seems that according to a 2006 General Social Survey of the National Opinion Research Center the most prestigious jobs like CEOs, politicians, stockbrokers, and even doctors ranked far lower than clergy, firefighters, authors (not necessarily famous ones), and teachers (esp. special education teachers, but not school superintendents and principals) regarding the satisfaction they bring to those employed in these positions. The common characteristic of the jobs with greatest satisfaction was that they were jobs involved (or at least perceived as involved) in having direct interaction with helping people. Those in such jobs where the pay scale was higher fell below those who did hands-on caring. It is true that some low-paying jobs like laborers (not involved in construction), salespersons, and packagers scored low in satisfaction. But it is not clear that they and even medical doctors (who score low on job satisfaction) were as inclined to see their jobs as helping professions (a dynamic with MDs that has developed in the last four decades as more and more undergraduate pre-med students tell their peers that it is the financial rewards of the profession that is their prime motivation for studying medicine).

That we find the most job satisfaction in jobs perceived as helping others is not surprising given the latest neurobiological data. Happiness is at least in part a function of the amphetamine-like brain chemical dopamine saturating our brains. But it seems we best experience that when we are not narrowly focused on our own agendas, but when the front part of our brains is stimulated causing us to lose ourselves in bigger realities that provide a sense of meaning (Daniel Amen, Change Your Brain, Change Your Life, esp. pp. 140-141). Lose yourself in your job, see it as an opportunity to serve God and others, and not ourselves, and work-life becomes more meaningful. That is the way God sees every job, a chance to serve him and others, a chance to deny our selfishness for their sake. It is like Martin Luther writes: "Each of us is to examine himself according to his station in life and is to find what is best for him to fulfill the work and purpose of his baptism, namely to slay sin and to die... and not be carried with worry and care" (Luther's Works, Vol. 35, p. 40).