A chat with David Bahnsen

Having long felt called to my particular work while also answering charges of “working too much,” I read with relief David L. Bahnsen’s latest book, Full-Time: Work and the Meaning of Life. I’d encountered other theologies of work and generally felt they were a little … well, soft. Bahnsen’s take is more brass tacks, in the same way Scripture often is: Thus it is written, and thus should we do. I asked Bahnsen to elaborate on the essay he wrote for us , “Selling work short,” in this issue:

In Full-Time: Work and the Meaning of Life, you sound the alarm about the labor force participation rate among American teens and young adults, ages 16 to 24. Tell us about that. Fewer 16- to 24-year-olds working means fewer 25- to 35-year-olds working, and certainly means less skill, confidence, readiness, and discipline for those in their mid-20s. Teenage jobs, college jobs, part-time jobs—these kinds of endeavors so many of us had are not merely valuable for the work they represent in the moment, but the hand they play in preparing young people for future employment of even greater consequence. Learning how to show up on time, to get along with a grouchy boss, to cooperate with co-workers, to overcome obstacles at some level—these are the traits in our jobs as 16- to 24-year-olds that we carry with us to future jobs.

Apart from the economic effects, what are young people—and we as a society—losing because of this trend? We are losing discipline, intentionality, an appreciation of service, and the concept of delayed gratification. So much of the reason we have fewer college students working part-time jobs in school is that they have rolled their spending-money needs into their student loans. This is essentially just taking a credit card advance to live off of instead of working. It ­distorts rational economic decision-­making and is habit-­forming, but not the good kind of habits.

A message to young people we often hear is “follow your dreams.” How has that cliché worked its way into our economy, and what does Scripture have to say about this subject? One of the reasons people can get away with saying something like “follow your dreams” is because the miracle of free enterprise has, indeed, enabled more and more people to achieve their dreams. However, there is a chicken-or-egg fallacy at play here. No one ever says “follow your dreams” unless they are already rich. So, do people who find professional fulfillment start by following their dreams, or do their dreams become what they are good at? In other words, are young people wiser to “follow their skills,” and find themselves in a productive and joyful place because we tend to end up really liking what we’re good at? I believe the Scriptures reinforce this message all the time, with a focus on our talents, doing a lot with what we are given, and other such themes of making the most of our resources.

The “follow your dreams” mantra seems to have warped the definition of purpose from a life focused on service to a life focused on self. What can Christians do, individually and corporately, to change that? Well, this really highlights the other great deficiency in “follow your dreams” thinking: It is entirely inward-focused when work is, by definition, outward-­focused. Work is the production of goods and services that meet human needs. We have our needs met by meeting the needs of others, and in this process—involving all sorts of potential skills, interests, studies, activities, and so forth—we find purpose.

Wrap up by recommending for us three books on economics for people like me, who think we’re allergic to economics. There’s No Free Lunch: 250 Economic Truths by yours truly; Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt; Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell.