Unless you directly gather and use food and supplies for living, you’ll probably work at something which indirectly provides them by way of income. There is nothing sinful about receiving money for things people want you to do, or by direct barter. What makes that sinful is in the nature of the activity itself.
We have surely heard too much moralizing about whether to trade with this or that entity because they support something politically proper or improper. To make a religious value of something which is purely secular politics is a blasphemy — it reduces God to a human level. A significant part of the problem is the very existence of corporations as persons, but that is a matter of God’s Laws. We don’t have the leverage to change things, and it’s not our way. We use what God provides for His calling and purpose.
That still leaves us with a host of jobs which are sinful because of what they demand from the worker. You cannot serve Christ as a pole dancer. That job, whatever else it may be in the minds of some, serves only to provoke lust. If nothing else, it requires removing too much clothing in a public setting. What about professional show dancing? It’s the clothing thing, again. If you can do your job with decent cover, and without sexually suggestive moves, shake it all you like. We should avoid even watching sinful displays.
In today’s climate, I’d say you can’t work where you are required to put your hand to sin. If you don’t understand the problems with abortion, for example, you don’t understand God. But burying human remains, for whatever cause, is probably the last dignity you can offer anyone. There comes a point when you need to work at healing and redeeming, because if you boycott everything which is less than perfect, you’ll have nothing except what you make yourself. That’s not too bad if it’s your calling, but most of us can’t go there just yet. The world in which we live militates against that.
All the noisy protest and leverage actions in the world don’t help. The world is fallen and rejects the mere notion itself. Change comes not through political compulsion, but drawing with God’s glory. People around you have to know, have to understand what we believe God requires and why we believe it. We have to make our case, to the world and to each other.
It’s voluntary. I’m not your Holy Spirit. You have to decide for yourself what God demands or forbids, and whether you care. I can’t compel you to do right. The only thing I can do is keep my distance and not fellowship too closely if you don’t. Even then, the very point of decision is voluntary between us, and we each must decide what the Spirit requires. I can’t condemn you for refusing to work with me, any more than I can condemn you for doing what you find most compelling. It is entirely reciprocal. There is no place for animosity in such decisions.
We do what we are called to do. We serve the highest authority in the all Creation. There are times to force the issue, regardless of whether we expect to succeed. Simply do what is right regardless of consequences. Most of the time, we swallow our sorrow and keep praying for God to destroy sin by His wrath. It is His prerogative to change hearts, and His alone.
