Preppers have always been around. It may seem like a new and timely antidote to the poison of industrial modernity and overreaching tyranny. Being prepared is a valid solution of sober self-reliance opposing the dogma of drugged dependence. But the prepping mindset was around before machines took over. It’s just that in our time, ironically thanks to the resources and opportunities created by large corporations such as Comcast, Facebook, and the Boeing Company (just to name a few), the message of self-reliant independence has been given a platform to stand on – a platform which it keeps trying to dismantle.
There are different kinds of preppers, to be sure. Some are antic freak-outs, not worth the time to contradict. I don’t have any acquaintances with that level of weirdness, so it wouldn’t be too relevant of a contradiction, merely hypothetical. And we all know how effective it is to build arguments against hypothetical abstractions. I’m not running for office, so I’ll stay out of conversations like that.
There is also a sort of prepper who is in the “prepper” category very loosely. I’m not even sure he would belong in that group. This person has good ideas about learning necessary skills and having necessary resources to be useful for his own household and his local community. Owning your own property and knowing how to manage it is very good indeed. I don’t have much to add to that conversation besides a hearty “Amen.”
What I would like to consider is an aspect of this prepping mentality that comes in contact with our day-jobs. Earlier, I wrote about having an inaccurate balance between our spiritual reality and our physical one. You can find that post here. Something is off when we look down on the physical world in order to look up to the spiritual one. There seems to be a similar tendency for some people when it comes to making categories within our physical world, specifically categories about the work we are to do.
Self-righteousness loves costume parties. It parades around from one party to another, tugging it’s trunk of disguises along with it. After getting kicked out of the Bible-reading group it thought it was the life of, it joins a farming community, and brings it’s party-pooper, legalistic attitude.
What I’m talking about is the escalating conversations about owning productive property, that come across as guilt-tripping the production line worker for depending on somebody else’s crop instead of owning his own 5-acre homestead. The search for fulfillment in our work can get convoluted when we start with the wrong assumptions, and then try to cram people into our own mold.
We want our work to be meaningful. That part is in good order. Yes, we should only do work that is meaningful. But, there seems to be some confusion when it comes to pinpointing the definition of meaningful work. Is working on a production line meaningful? Or is your work only meaningful when you own it yourself? Does self-reliance impose meaning? What about washing the dishes or changing diapers? Does interest create meaning? If a minimum-wage paying nanny can do it, does that mean the work is meaningless? There’s a lot to cover there. More than what can be covered in one blog post. But I think adding some thoughts about this subject to the web’s metadata would not be wasteful. It would be meaningful. I’ll do my best to keep the straw out of any images I describe, and keep any mockery at a level of fairness. But if the opposing positions start tossing straw onto themselves, I can’t promise to stop them.
What should a production line worker who works on the Boeing-737 line think when he read’s a homesteading blogger from Oklahoma make a case for why it’s foolish to work for a large corporation? He should think, “I hope all the screws on the plane you’re flying on to speak at the local farming conference in Oregon will be properly tightened.” It’s a bit surprising to see how narrow and vocal the thinking is in a lot of these homesteading advocates. The Amish community I have an easier time understanding. Each member of the community is dependent on the other members, and they only use the resources their community cultivates. But seeing homesteaders guilt people on Facebook for not homesteading seems a bit too ironic for me.
It’s good to be passionate about what you do. But to let that passion spill over into guilt-tripping others for not being passionate about what you’re passionate about comes across like misplaced passion. Saying things like, “You can either own your own property or others will own you” sets up an awfully narrow false dichotomy with moral imputations. As if working for a company you don’t own degrades your moral integrity.
I’ve read a decent amount of arguments for why we should all aspire to self-reliant work from home. I agree with the typical thesis presented about not depending on “the system,” and having the necessary skills and resources to provide for your own. I also think there is plenty to be said about a widespread attitude of entitlement and grumbling in the employment market. However, the root of the issue is not found in being an employee, and owning productive property does not save you from those sinful attitudes. There are plenty of grumbling business owners who have the same attitude of entitlement and victimization.
The issue boils down to understanding who your Lord is, giving Him thanks, and faithfully doing what he told you to do.
The Lordship of Christ engulfs all of creation. Everything belongs to Jesus, whether or not everything acknowledges Him. It would be better if everything did acknowledge Him. But, one thing at a time. Pharaoh is not Lord, neither is Caesar, and neither is David Calhoun. If you’re a homesteader, Jesus provides your food. If you’re a Boeing line worker, Jesus still provides your food. David Calhoun owes you what you agreed to, like any other trade agreement. But he does not own you. Only Jesus can sit in that seat.
When Paul addresses actual slaves he doesn’t morally deride them for being slaves. Instead, he tells them to serve their earthly masters whole heartily, as for the Lord.
Bondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” – Col. 3:22-24, ESV
So, if it is possible to be a slave in bondage and still live with the spirit of a free man, in bondage only to Christ, how much more is it possible to be that kind of employee? The system doesn’t owe anybody any entitlements. Every person is responsible for his own provision. Whether he chooses to trade his time and strength to manage his own personal property, or to trade it with an employer for a paycheck, either way he belongs only to Christ. Jesus is Lord.
If we understand that Christ is Lord of all, and that he provides us with all, one of the responses that we must have is gratitude, not guilt. The modern economy is highly complex, and made up of way more moving pieces than any one person can comprehend. Understanding all the forged, machined, casted, pressed, and manufactured little components that it takes to drive the tractor the homesteader depends on for his livelihood should bring about a sense of awe and gratitude to the Lord of all. Thank God that not everybody is a homesteader. Thank God that there are employees specialized in what they do and contribute to our economy in providing more resources for more people. Thank God that there are business owners who take on the risk of investing their own time, money, and strength to create opportunities for human flourishing. Jesus is not just Lord. He is a Good Lord who cares for His creation. A deep sense of gratitude is deeply missing in many corners of our society today.
When we understand who our Lord is, and bask in gratitude to Him for all that He provides, we can then start to see what it is He’s calling us to do, and get to work doing it.
And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” – Gen. 1:28, ESV
We are called to be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over creation. What does that look like? Yes, it looks like chopping wood and harvesting crops. But it also looks like driving a garbage truck and collecting a paycheck from Waste Management to make sure people’s productive property remains sanitary. It looks like creating delicious dinners and then washing the dishes afterwards to cultivate joy in a home. It looks like specializing in plumbing intricacies and cleaning a septic clog to bless the people living in that home. It looks like controlling the huge machinery that lays fiber-optic cables along the ocean floor so we can send messages instantly to our distant family on the other side of the globe. It looks like changing your baby’s diaper often enough to keep her from getting a painful rash. It looks like machining the screws that connect satellite components together so you can video call your wife while you’re away from home. It looks like assembling medical equipment to assist doctors in saving people’s lives.
Meaning in our personal vocation is not determined by our ownership of it, or even by our interest in it. Rather, it is found in our faithful acknowledgement, gratitude, and submission to the vast and all-encompassing Lordship of Christ.
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