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The Christian and His Work

“And I hated all my labor wherein I labored under the sun” (Eccles. 2:18).

“Now them that are such we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work and eat their own bread” (2 Thess. 3:12).

Various countries celebrate Labor Day. It is a day to remember in some special way labor and the working man.

The importance of labor is undeniable. It takes up a large part of our lives. We spend many of our waking hours in it. For that reason alone it is important that we have a wholesome attitude toward our work.

We ought first to observe that work is not the result of sin. Neither is it true that we will not be working in heaven. Still less is it correct to say, as I often heard when I was young, that “work (manual labor) is for the dumb.” As if educated people didn’t have to work.

Work began in Paradise. God gave Adam the duty to keep the garden, to “dress” it, whatever that implied. Mankind was to discover and develop the riches of God’s earth with his inventions and industry. Jesus worked. He worked hard, without vacations. And lest we get a distorted idea of God, He said that His Father also continues to work.

We must not forget that man was created to work. Therefore normal work will not hurt anybody who is healthy. All healthy people of working age should work, whether they need the money or not.

Sin has distorted everything, including our attitude toward and feeling about work. One of its first effects was that work became toil so that it  made man weary and became monotonous. Adam after his Fall would have to toil “in the sweat of his brow.” Whereas formerly he worked with joy, now his work became a burden. And man’s place of work became a prison.

The author of Ecclesiastes 2 tells us that man, the natural man, hates his work. Working in the factory, he begins watching the clock at nine in the morning, eager for quitting time. Monday through Friday often become a drudgery in which he is always looking forward to the weekends. He often says, “I hate going to work.” Although he may become resigned to it, he eagerly anticipates vacation, and even more, retirement. Perhaps he tries to escape from his frustrations with the job in the misuse of alcohol or other abuses. If he only had enough money he’d quit his job, which he regards as a waste of time, and replace it with a life of leisure, looking for pleasure and thrills. He likely considers his work to be just a way of acquiring money so as to become well-off and enjoy life’s luxuries.

It seems that this has usually been man’s attitude toward his work. The old Greek and Roman world were like ours in this respect. Cicero once wrote, “The callings of hired laborers and those who perform just common work, are unworthy of freedom and are vulgar. All common mechanics are engaged in vulgar business. A working man has nothing respectable about him. Commerce on a small scale is also vulgar. Only skilled labor and the rich can be considered to be really creditable.”

Even the unbelieving world knows that the prevailing attitude toward work in unsatisfactory. But the unbeliever doesn’t know how to correct it. He has no real solution to his labor problem. He senses that man may have everything to live with but nothing to live for. He knows that real living and working should have some meaning, for life is more than biological.

In God’s Word, and in Christ, whom we come to know through that Word, we find the solutions to man’s problems, including that of the meaning and purpose of daily work. Christianity changes the total man. That change also alters his attitude towards work. God’s Law, “Six days shalt thou labor . . .” may be differently applicable in the New Testament, but as a basic law is still valid. Man must work. The Christian, given a “new heart,” as a new “creation,” comes to know the meaning and purpose of life itself and therefore also the meaning and purpose of his labor. Restored to the fellowship and service of God he is called to labor in the duty to which the Lord assigns him. In that way all work becomes honorable and all honest work is to be respected. He remembers that the Lord worked, and he learns to do his own duty with joy and purpose purpose. He must learn to go to the job each morning thankful for the Lord’s assignment and the ability to carry it out.

Laboring in that spirit, he is willing to do an honest day’s work, not expecting to be paid for working only half of the time or for a poor job. His work is an opportunity for Christian testimony to people whom he has learned to know well and with whom he can easily communicate. He works for the paycheck in order to support his God-given family, the causes of God’s kingdom, and the help of his fellow men. The money is not an end but a means to achieve more worthy ends. All of the Christian’s work is in principle the work of God’s kingdom. A lady has hanging in big letters before her at the kitchen sink where she has washed thousands of dishes, the words, “This is kingdom work.” Providing and preparing food for her family is part of the work of God’s kingdom.

The Thessalonians were expecting Christ to come back very soon. We get the impression that some of them quit working. In the meantime they still had to eat. Paul therefore warned them that they must do their own work and eat their own bread.

What a blessing it is to be able, as a Christian, to work with joy and dignity!

Each day has new opportunities, new callings, new experiences and challenges. As new creations of God we have a new attitude toward the old world.

Two men were laying bricks, day after day. When a stranger approached them and asked what they were doing, one replied grouchily, “I’m just a bricklayer, doing the same old thing every day. What a monotony!” The other said, “I’m helping to build a church for the Lord Jesus Christ.” That is really what every Christian, moved and led by the Spirit of Christ, is doing. May your labor be blessed in this way, and you be blessed in your labor.