With the never-ending “Now Hiring” signs stuck upon the windows of our favorite establishments, it would seem this is a question many in our world are asking. The pandemic of recent years has reminded us, maybe more than ever in our lifetime, that life is truly short. So why should we work instead of enjoying each day to its fullest?
What are the benefits of working amid such circumstances and while people are dying all around us? Is work a waste of life? Is working a job merely a cultural construct to allow the economic machine and those who control it to pursue their dreams on the backs of those who work for them? Should we, instead, simply “eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we may die?” As a Christian, should we work if our vocation is not intrinsically eternal or spiritual in nature? Is work simply a consequence of the Fall?
This might be a good time to remind us that Adam was to tend the garden of Eden before sin entered its boundaries (Gen. 2:15). In addition, Jesus worked as a carpenter (Mark 6:3), many of the disciples as fishermen, and the Apostle Paul as a tentmaker (Acts 18:1-3). May we also take note that John the Baptist did not encourage the tax collectors or soldiers to quit their jobs after their repentance but simply perform them in a redemptive manner (Luke 3:12-14). And if tax collecting can be redeemed surely your job…well, you get the point.
It has been rightly said that “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.” David gives us a great Biblical example of this. When it was time for kings, like David, to be at battle with his army, he found himself gazing out upon his rooftop instead. Satan took advantage of his wandering eyes by focusing them upon the married Bathsheba (2 Sam. 11). An activity of idle hands David would soon regret and desperately repent of but only after the consequences occurred.
Over the last few years we have, once again, found this statement to be proven true. For example, a study shows that pornography usage rose during the time of the national quarantine.[1] Not to mention the seeming loss of work ethic, the rise in drug dependencies, and maybe even more in addition to this. Have the consequences of these fully proven themselves yet? Only time will tell.
Idle hands aside, why else should we work? Because, according to God before the Fall, it is good that we do. And, though now tainted by sin, the work itself is still good for using one’s gifts, talents, and creative abilities given by the One in whose image we were created. While one’s purpose should never be fully tied to one’s work, there remains a purpose found within it despite its kind.
I think we know this in theory but forget this in practice—even ministry that one is spiritually gifted for is still work. Though a pastor with some level of gifting to teach, the putting together, study, and delivery of each sermon is an exhausting feat for me every week. The gifting gives the work its fruit. Without the gifting, the work is alone; without the work, the fruit is there but left hanging on the tree.
If ministry is this way, certainly everything else we do will take some level of work as well: creating and sustaining a family (Ps. 127:1), maintaining friendships (Prov. 18:24), and even helping to meet the needs of others (Matt. 25:37-40; 1 Jn. 3:17). Thankfully, the Bible is honest about it all.
To sum it up nicely, work is work. Family is work. Relationships of every variety are work. Helping others is work. Shoot, writing this post is work. Most everything we do in life is simply that, work. It’s exhausting, it’s challenging, and it can add to the frustrations of life many times. But without it and the on-going ethic it demands, what do we lose? Potentially family, those relationships, that feeling we get from helping others, and maybe even a purpose for living itself. All of this because we weren’t willing to work for it.
So, in a life that’s short, why work? Because not only is the summer vacation more enjoyable knowing the responsibilities we just left behind for a few days; and more than the weekend being more gratifying because of the effort on Friday to get there. We work because all of this is pointing to the fact that the rest and reward of eternity will be much sweeter knowing that the labor in this life was never completely in vain.
In other words, work is not a waste of life, but a life without work of any kind very well could be.
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
1 Corinthians 15:58
Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
1 Corinthians 10:31
[1] “Porndemic? A Longitudinal Study of Pornography Use Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic in a Nationally Representative Sample of Americans,” https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-021-02077-7
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
1 Corinthians 15:58
Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
1 Corinthians 10:31
[1] “Porndemic? A Longitudinal Study of Pornography Use Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic in a Nationally Representative Sample of Americans,” https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-021-02077-7
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