Musing 4

As the AI craze goes on (and I await the delightful chaos of the bubble popping) I find it fun to think of how software performance is again becoming important, so that we can maximize the benefit of the RAM we have, because only God knows when the average person will be able to afford a bit more memory again.

But as a Christian, there’s a higher reason to write performant software - we are to do our work as for God Himself, and not simply our earthly bosses.

I’ve long grown up hearing that a Christian’s work should be held to high standard, and I think one of the condemnations of our age is that too often, Christians abuse and presume on grace to ‘forgive’ shoddy work done out of laziness. This ought not be so.

We who have been lavished with grace of infinite magnitude ought to be the first to not only give our best at work, but to seek to make our work of the highest quality.

The fight

There are so many things that fight against doing quality work. First and foremost is sinful laziness. It is easy to give only half efforts and have that work be acceptable. It is hard to give consistent quality that is of the highest caliber.

And so, that whisper of “a cut corner here, and another there will go unnoticed” is a siren song, if for no other reason than the fact that especially in this day which prioritizes alacrity over everything, that whisper isn’t wrong.

We live in a day where the economy isn’t one that rewards quality. It rewards going up to the edge of dishonesty so you can make a quick buck and outlast your competitors just 1 day longer so others have to depend on you, or more often in the tech sector, last just long enough to get bought out so you aren’t the one worrying about making a good product for a profit.

Assuming that those realities aren’t inherently sinful (even if caused by sinful men), how do we navigate the realities that are before us that pull us from doing the best we can?

A Christian at work

I think there’s a lot we can do. First is recognizing that many of those factors are outside our control. It doesn’t matter if the economy at large doesn’t reward quality. The economy isn’t our master. The Lord is.

And so even if it’s counter cultural, or limits our growth in the world’s eyes, we do our work as best we can given whatever time constraints we have.

Bearing that point in mind, we must be diligent in our work and recognize how limited our time is. Parkinson’s law tells us that the more time we have to do a given job, the longer that job will take. It is easy to say “well, I have 2 weeks to do this job, so it’s ok to set this pace”. And we must be careful that such thoughts are rooted in doing the best job possible, and not allowing ourselves to be lazy in that realization.

Secondly, we should remember that on the norm, God rewards good work. Proverbs 22:29 tells us that the skilled will stand before kings. Though the world may not give extensive recognition at times, we as skilled craftsman will stand before the true King over all one day and must give account of our time at work. May it be a good one!

Finally, we must remember that work is not our God. While work is a good thing instituted by God even before the fall, we recognize that it is not to supplant God as the focus of our lives. Setting aside how sin has corrupted work, at the end of the day, it must be subservient to our service and following of Jesus. Whether that be enforcing a resting from our labors on Sundays, or “when we’re at work, we’re at work, but when we’re at home, we’re at home” we must put work in its proper place. Work is a means of provision, but our God has promised to care for us. We should trust in the One to whom all things belong instead of the creature who can’t even guarantee his next breath.