I was encouraged recently after a church event when I saw one of our young mothers jump right in and help with the cleanup. She had three small children of her own and no one would have thought less of her if she had chosen to tend to them. But she had a vacuum cleaner in hand and was helping. I must say, it made a very positive impression on me.
There are few character traits I respect more than a good work ethic. I have great respect for those who work. When I leave home early in the morning and see all the traffic on the road, I am encouraged, knowing that many people are headed to work. Working to support self and family is a good measure of a man or woman.
Let me add one more thing. A job worth doing is worth doing right. We’ve all heard the expression. I am sure we have used it when teaching our children the value of quality work. It is not only the activity of working, but the quality of the product that garners respect. I have known people who have been employed in the same position, producing quality work, for an entire lifetime. They are due much respect.
What do the Scriptures say about Work?
Prov 20:4 – The lazy man will not plow because of winter; He will beg during harvest and have nothing.
Exodus 20:9 – 6 days you shall labor
Eph 4:28 – but let him labor with his hands…
1 Thes 4:11 – work with your own hands…
2 Thes 3:10 – if a man will not work, neither shall he eat.
But what about the quality and what about the motive?
Eph 6:5ff – the inference is that a worker should work not to please men but rather to please GOD.
Eph 4:28 – working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give to him who has need.
Work is sometimes viewed as a punishment resulting from the sin in the garden. Indeed, the 3rd chapter of Genesis notes how man was driven from the Garden and sentenced to eat by the sweat of his brow.
But one should note that work preceded the fall in the Garden. Gen 2:15 tells us that GOD put man in the Garden to tend it and keep it. It is also noteworthy that this happened even before the woman was created. And thus we have the man with a home (in the Garden) and a job (to tend it and keep it) before he got a wife. That seems to be pretty good advice.
The last time the word work appears in the Scriptures is Rev 22:12 where we read the words of Jesus.
And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to everyone according to his work.
I hope your work is honorable. I hope you are known as a worker. But my greatest hope is that your life’s work is garnering a reward awaiting on that Great Day.