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We do not attain value by working. That is, our value is not established by the fruit of our labour. Nonetheless God does use our labour and reward it.
So, if there is no value to be gained from work, why work?
Because it is glorious to take part in God’s work. We have been saved from doing deeds that lead to death, ours and other’s death (this includes idleness.) And we have been saved to do deeds that bring life, as Jesus did.
Again if we can add to our value by what we do, or specifically what we achieve, then work becomes radically oppressive. Indeed a great burden is placed on us: the burden to produce results.
However when our worth is fixed, then our works ceases to be a burden and instead become a delightful gift. The burden is removed because our worth is independent from the results: we are free to act without fear of failure or disgrace. Our work is a delight because it is what we deeply desire to do: to bring life as Jesus brought life, to revere God as Jesus revered God and to shout thanks and show love to our great Lover and Redeemer. So we are gifted with good things to do by our Father.
It is worth noting that we act like how Jesus acted, and we expect our actions to do actual good, even as Jesus’ did. However we are not Jesus, He is more than us, so we will not and are not expected to bring salvation as Jesus did. We are saved by Jesus, that is done, complete. We are acting out of that, in that pattern. It is a wonderful thing to be restored to the image of God. That is to be restored to imaging God in the world.
See [ch:ParadoxOfPrayer] for a discussion of a similar “paradox” as it pertains to prayer.