What Is Charitable Work?

The Acton Institute unwraps a fascinating twist on Jesus’ admonition to feed the hungry. Could it be that the service we do everyday within the context of work fulfills the duty of charity? In their article, “Work and Service to Others,” the Institute poses the possibility that all of those involved in the food chain—the farmer, the grocer, the fertilizer, the truck driver, the marketer—and everyone else in between has a hand in carrying out the work of charity.

But what if you make a wage, a salary while performing this work? Does that disqualify it from “charitable work?”

Not so fast, argues Acton’s Jordan Ballor. “The concept of work being at once remunerative and service-oriented is not totally foreign to us. We tend to think, at least generally, of those in ‘public service’ as working for the good of others even though they receive a paycheck. Why is not the same true for the entrepreneur, the waitress, the garbageman, the farmer, the babysitter, or the factory worker?”

Read the rest of the article, “The Sheep and the Goats: Work and Service to Others.”

Image by Eric Hart. Used with permission. Sourced via Flikr.

Post by Newsletter Editor David Rupert

• Tags:  
• Acton Institute
• Charitable work
• laborer is worth his wage