Addiction has many consequences from broken relationships to legal charges, to health problems. One of the consequences most profoundly felt is a loss of career opportunities. Substance abuse causes a total derailment of a solid career path. It also leads to a poor job performance track record. All of this can make it challenging to get back on track in your career.
Feeling Left Behind
When people begin rebuilding a life of sobriety, they often feel behind. The friends they grew up with are way ahead of them in life in everything from careers to marriages to homes. Unfortunately, the great temptation is to immediately feel the need to catch up. Like a runner who stumbled off the block, now they need to run that much faster to catch up.
However, in doing so, they quickly burn out in their efforts and once again fall back into addiction. They forget the race of life is a marathon and not a sprint. Plus, they are not competing against anyone but themselves. Winning means just beating my old self with my new self.
Those inclined to substance disorder tend to be naturally obsessed people. They can be very hyper focused, which is a great talent if used well. Unfortunately for many it leads to a frantic effort to catch up, which is followed by another burn out. The key for them is to learn balance.
The Importance of Rest
At the very core of the Ten Commandments, the God who created us—and who gives us His user manual in the scriptures—gives us a command,
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God.” (Exodus 20:8-10a)
God recognized that we need balance and that rest is critical. The very reason for a Sabbath rest is that God created in six days and spent the seventh day in rest. He set rest aside as a holy thing. We need it!
So, for all those who feel behind, pace yourself. Work, yes, but also rest. If God needs it, so do you!
The Significance of Work
One of the other aspects of this teaching is the significance of work. God works!
Genesis 2:2-3 summarizes all that is described in the first chapter of Genesis with these words,
“And on the seventh day God finished His work that He had done, and He rested on the seventh day. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from His work that He had done.”
Because God works, work is sanctified and valued by Him. We who were created in God’s image (Genesis 1:27), were created as workers too. To work is to express the nature and character of God! To simply connect work with paychecks and promotions and status is degrading to the sacred position of work expressed in the very nature of God. Work is a foundational expression of Godlikeness in our lives. Work is holy!
Our Work Assignment
Not only are we created as workers in God’s image, but He also gives us a specific assignment. Immediately after man’s creation in God’s image in Genesis 1:27, He instructs us to “fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over” it. (Genesis 1:28) To subdue means to bring the creation into subjection to God and then exercise dominion or rule over it. We are assigned by God as creation’s divinely appointed governors and caretakers, like creation’s nannies. Later scripture says,
“The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work and keep it.” (Genesis 2:15)
We are to “work,” which means to serve the garden and then to “keep” means to guard, preserve, and watch over it.
Our work is clearly to care for His creation as His representatives.
A Spiritual Perspective of Work
Many who feel behind try to find a way to exit work responsibility through government assisted disability. While disability support is a great gift for many who find it a necessity, the inability to work attacks the very fiber of our createdness. Whether it is working for pay and a career or just volunteering to serve, work is essential to the God-image within each of us. To choose to not work is an assault of God’s image within us and is one of the ways we can be destroyed from the inside out.
The apostle Paul encourages a positive, spiritual perspective of work. In Colossians 3:23,24 he says,
“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men (or men’s rewards), knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.”
Reentry to the Workplace
- Do not be in a rush. Pace yourself. Work diligently for a job, but not in a frenzy or panic. Trust that God will provide in His time.
- Be honest and transparent. Put your best foot forward, but do not hide your flaws. It is incredibly important to be honest and genuine with a potential employer. I find that people love to be a part of redemption stories and, if they can, they would love to create an opportunity.
- Pursue local and family-owned businesses over major national corporations. Many larger companies are limited to whom they can hire by their corporate guidelines, but local businesses do not have those legal restrictions and can make exceptions based on their perceptions and desires.
- Trust your employer. With your honesty, give them the opportunity to extend grace, mercy and generosity. People love to be a part of an underdog story. Let them be a part of yours. I have seen many situations where employers have gotten involved with the His Way mission through an employee in recovery whom they are supporting.
Fervently pursue your divine calling of work and above all remember the encouragement of Paul in I Corinthians 10:31,
“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”