Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God’s Work
Timothy Keller with Katherine Leary Alsdorf
This book is now the “go to” resource on work and rest. In it, the authors explore how God designed work to be good, how sin has twisted work and made it often fruitless, pointless, or selfish, and how the gospel redeems our work and gives us a fresh vision for approaching vocation.

Sabbath Keeping: Finding Freedoms in the Rhythms of Rest
Lynne Baab
The author shares her story of learning about the importance of Sabbath-keeping. She shares many testimonials about the benefits of observing the Sabbath as well as many practical tips about how to use the Sabbath for various stages of life and life-circumstances.

Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling
Andy Crouch
This book defines the term “culture” and evaluates the vocabulary that has arisen around the term. It then describes how Scripture writes about the story of culture from beginning to end. Along the way, Crouch teaches how Christians today can participate in culture-making and renewing through our callings in our particular vocations. He urges Christians to join with God in his work of redeeming culture.

Keeping the Sabbath Wholly: Ceasing, Resting, Embracing, Feasting
Marva Dawn
A book to teach and inspire Christians about the practice of Sabbath-keeping, rooted in Scriptures and lessons from Jewish practice. Dawn explains the joy and wholeness to be found in life when we cease from work, embrace other people, and feast in worship with other believers. She makes the case that we will flourish when we intentionally set aside our productivity and our striving and rest in God’s abundant provision by observing the Sabbath.

In the Beginning, God: Creation, Culture, and the Spiritual Life
Marva Dawn
Dawn creatively sets forth the Genesis creation account in a liturgical framework with the hope that the reader would use this portion of Scripture not just for information about our world, but also for worship. It has short chapters on a variety of topics that the opening pages of Scripture introduce, from taking care of the environment to working for justice to keeping the Sabbath.

The Call: Finding and Fulfilling the Central Purpose of Your Life
Os Guinness
Guinness traces how people have understood “calling” throughout church history. There are helpful chapters on choosing one’s vocational path.

Don’t Waste Your Life
John Piper
Piper practically shows Christians how the culture of the day pushes us to live for comfort, leisure, and pleasure. He calls Christians to move away from such selfish pursuits and live instead for the glory of God. From Scripture and his own personal journey, he shows what it means to live for God’s glory, and he applies this to our jobs, involvement with missions, illnesses, and stewardship of resources.

Redeeming the Time: A Christian Approach to Work and Leisure
Leland Ryken
This book defines the nature of work and leisure. It discusses historical attitudes about both of these realms of human experience through history, particularly focused on the Reformers and the Puritans. It sets forth a biblical understanding of work and rest, tracing both topics through the Scriptures.

Generation Me: Why Today’s Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled—and More Miserable Than Ever Before
Jean M. Twenge
A very helpful, secular description of the newest generation (which she distinguishes from gen x or gen y and calls gen me). It thoughtfully and entertainingly points out what this generation (youth to age thirty-five) is like and what in our culture has caused them to be that way. Twenge also offers advice on how to relate to this generation.

Running Scared: Fear, Worry, and the God of Rest
Edward T. Welch
A wonderful book of biblical theology that addresses all kinds of fears, anxieties, and desires for control. Welch explains these fears and the beliefs that cause them. He then applies the truths of Scripture to specific categories of our fears, including our money and possessions; fear of other people and their judgments; and fear of pain, death, and future judgment. He concludes with chapters on what it means for God to promise his followers peace.

“Resources on Work & Vocation”
John Piper
John Piper’s website includes many relevant sermons and articles under the topic of work and vocation. I especially recommend the sermons “Why God Wills Work” and “Do Not Labor for the Food that Perishes.”