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PROGRAM D-7916
Do you like to work? In light of the truth that God created work, let me ask again—do you like to work? The most common answer to that question would be “no,” because most people have a negative opinion of work. It’s something we try to avoid as much as possible. It’s what we have to do to make a living but, if we could get by without it, we would—right?
This quote from Bob Black is a fairly common perception about work: “No one should ever work. Work is the source of nearly all the misery in the world. Almost any evil you’d care to name comes from working or from living in a world designed for work. In order to stop suffering, we have to stop working.” Wow! Work is responsible for all the misery and suffering in the world? Really? If that’s true, why did God create it?
Well, it’s not true. God created work, and everything God created was good. This world was indeed designed for work and God was the original worker, as recorded in Genesis. The problem with work began when Eve and Adam sinned and a curse was placed on work. What had been easy, enjoyable, and fulfilling now became characterized by painful toil, by thorns and thistles, and by the “sweat of your brow.”
Work itself is not the problem—the curse placed on work is. The good news is that Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, as we read in Galatians 3. Those who have been redeemed by Christ and who have become Christ-followers by grace through faith should have a different attitude toward work—a redeemed attitude, if you will. An attitude that should set us apart from the typical complaining and griping that happens in most workplaces.
Here’s my challenge for you: Be thankful all day and all week for work. Thank God for your job, your work, whatever it is. Ask God to give you a new attitude toward work—a thankful attitude that recognizes God as the creator of work. Instead of dragging yourself out of bed each morning, wishing you didn’t have to go to work, hoping the weekend gets here soon, and longing for vacation or retirement, start your day thanking God for the blessing of work.
See your job—your work—as the place where God has put you to serve him and to glorify him. Ask God to show you how you can glorify him right now where you work and when you work. Remember, God created work, and it is good!