The Gift of Work

"Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth." Ephesians 4:28

When I first came to the country and keen to speak English, I discovered that some of the expressions I heard from people around me, were considered ‘four letter words’. This I learned, was a kind way of referring to profane, vulgar or offensive terminology that should be shunned and not imitated.

Sometimes in jest someone would refer to work as a ‘four letter word’, implying that work can be unpleasant, frustrating or something to be avoided.

There is no doubt that the necessity of work can be at times trying, tiring and bothersome, making many desire to escape the responsibility and sidestep its daily yoke and the effort that comes with it. This has provided the market for ‘get-rich-quick’ schemes and other man-made attempts at evading the regular toil or (another terminology I found rather strange at first) the ‘rat race’!

Meaningful and purposeful employment was part of what God scheduled for His new creation. When he made man he gave Adam the task of tending the garden in which he had been placed. We know then that ‘work’ existed before sin entered the human race, but this kind of work was to be a pleasure. It didn't imply deadlines, time checks, or bosses to drive production and neither was there mention of wages or paying bills!

It wasn't until after the fall of man, that work became a necessity for survival and that it would be represented by ‘the sweaty brow’ of labour and toil. This is mentioned in Genesis, as part of the ‘curse’ which was placed upon man, as a result of sin. From that point on,  food would not just grow naturally out of the ground with minimal or casual ‘tending’; there would now be the labour of ploughing, seeding, cultivating, reaping, storing and preparing. Sweaty enterprises indeed!

Perhaps it is as a result of our sinful condition that we register the task of daily work as the bane of our lives! This is however a wrong attitude to take towards this exercise. It is interesting that God included this necessary toil in the life of fallen man. Without it we would lack purpose, discipline and means, and might invest even more time into mischief and sin. 

Keeping the right attitude towards work is important especially as Christians. The modern motivation of working to accumulate material possessions, can become a self-made prison, one from which few escape unscathed. The worldly outlook of working for position, prestige or to lord it over others, again is not only inappropriate for believers, but lacks in any real meaning or depth of purpose. Deprecating work as a ‘four letter word’ or as a useless, self-defeating and pointless ‘rat-race’, is also evidence of a wrong outlook on this clearly God-mandated, direction for human life.

The text suggests something of a revolutionary and probably to our natural minds an absurd motivation for working. Yet when we stop and really think about it for a moment, this is the most sensible and most fulfilling reason we could possibly have as Christians to spend ourselves in daily toil. The scripture directs the changed, saved and now in-Christ individual firstly to abandon the thinking of the past life of sin (stealing – trying to get by without honest employment), and secondly to labour, making genuine efforts with the skills and abilities God has given him to produce good things!

 

Work, far from being a senseless inconvenience, can be a monument of love, care and a force for promoting good to the glory of God. It is an opportunity to demonstrate the right heart, spirit and mind towards God and fellow-man by appreciating that instead of our existence having been ended by a just God through death-deserving judgement on our sin, we were harnessed to achieve good, useful and powerful results. Work is in fact a gift from God for fallen humanity.

We labour to provide for our needs and the needs of our family. In many instances however, if are honest with ourselves, we translate and transpose many of our  ‘wants’ into ‘needs’, and this often, is what keeps us at the task of toiling longer and harder than would normally be necessary. It is this redefining too, that often requires more than one wage in a family, because ‘making ends meet’ has taken on new and much wider meaning than just the provision of basic necessities. 

Yet here in this verse, is the ultimate and gloriously challenging motivation to fire up and be a driving force for our earthly labours, work and toil  - “….that we may have to give to him that needeth”! How many of us ever go to work and labour with this motive in heart: “so that I may have the means of giving to the poor, needy and destitute”! How often have we considered that a valid reason for working, is so we can be charitable and give to someone else, who is in a lesser condition than ourselves? Should we allow ourselves to believe and practice His Word so altruistically, we would likely find the purpose and fulfilment we so greatly long for, and the contentment that escapes us.

It seems the Lord really knows how to challenge our limited and selfish human thinking and provide us, through our labour, effort and work, with the opportunity to make a real difference in the lives of those around us who are in need.  Doing this too 'as unto the Lord' instead of just for money or out of duty, is a healthier attitude to have towards work. We have a fresh daily occasion in our employment and work to shine out a light of love and true godly selflessness that pleases the Lord and brings Him glory.This is the message of the cross that, as He gave at great cost, we too as His disciples may give.

So....no, work is NOT a ‘four-letter’ word!



See also:
http://dailybiblefocus.blogspot.com.au/
http://www.pentecostalfamilychurch.com.au/devotion