“Do you see someone skilled in their work? They will serve before kings.” — Proverbs 22:29
There is a quiet theology of work tucked into Proverbs 22:29 that the modern church often misses. Skill is not vanity. Excellence is not pride. The slow, patient mastery of a craft is, the writer says, the kind of life that puts you in the room with kings.
At TCE, we take this seriously. When we train baristas, we are not handing out participation certificates. We are forming craftspeople. The bar between a passable flat white and a beautiful one is small in millimetres and enormous in dignity. We refuse to give our learners a small bar.
This is pastoral work, even when it looks like coffee. Every time a learner gets the pour right, they are practising a theology of personhood — that they are capable, that their hands matter, that they are worthy of a craft. The world has often told them otherwise. Their craft says otherwise.
The proverb is also a vocational call. If you are a teacher, parent, accountant, designer, mechanic — the King of Kings is not impressed by half-effort offered up as “at least it’s for God.” The most God-honouring thing you can do today is the work in front of you, done with care.
Skill is worship. Excellence is faithfulness. Pull the shot well. Today, and tomorrow.
Soli Deo Gloria — To God alone be the glory.
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