Have you ever heard the expression, “He worked his fingers to the bone.”? I thought about that phrase once when working at a YMCA in New Jersey. It was my first day on the job, with day camp set to start two days later, but unfortunately, our swimming pool had been shut down by the state inspectors since the water was green and sections of the pool tile had come loose and fallen into the water. I immediately drove to the store, bought some chlorine and a bag of Quikrete concrete, and spent the entire next day mixing the concrete and re-attaching the tiles to the pool deck. The good news was, my work was successful, and we passed our new inspection so the camp could begin. The bad news was, I had mixed the concrete bare-handed for twelve hours, and my finger tips were raw and bleeding. I had almost literally worked my fingers to the bone.
I’ve been thinking about the subject of “work” lately. Maybe it’s all the “Help Wanted” and “Now Hiring” signs that adorn every store and restaurant in town. Maybe it’s the employment/unemployment numbers reported on the news each month. Or maybe it’s hearing people call for a guaranteed income for everyone, whether they work or not.
Whatever the reason, I have been thinking about work, its purpose and benefits, its blessings and dangers, and how it fits into God’s (and therefore our) plans. So following are some of my thoughts, not in any particular order (because it would take work to organize them!).
- Work is not a curse, but the natural condition of life. Before mankind fell into sin and received God’s curse, God had already assigned work for us to do. Genesis 2:15 says, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” Therefore, Adam and Eve didn’t just lie around all day eating grapes brought to them by monkeys; they had work to do. It was after the Fall that God made their work more difficult and dangerous. God cursed Adam, saying, “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food” (Genesis 3:17-19).
- The natural state of mankind is poverty. It takes work to create goods, deliver services, practice trade, and meet basic needs. People create wealth by work, transforming their labor into things of value, such as money, which can then be used to purchase the fruit of other people’s labors.
- God created the world and everything in it in six days, and rested on the seventh day (Genesis2:2-3). He took his time; being all-powerful he didn’t need that long to do his work. What he did was set the pattern for us: six days of work, one day of rest. (Work. Rinse. Repeat.). While work is good, it does take a toll on our physical and mental energy, so a day off each week is a healthy way to recharge. Jesus explained the purpose of the Sabbath rest when he said, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27). God commanded us to take that Sabbath rest every week; because Christ is the Lord of the Sabbath (Matthew 12:8), if we are in him by faith, we fulfill that commandment (though we still benefit from taking a weekly break!).
- I grew up in a town that observed what were called, “Blue Laws.” This meant that stores and other businesses were closed on Sundays for the Christian Sabbath. I still remember the time in the 1960s when some pastors led protests against the first stores that opened on Sunday; nowadays, Sunday is hardly different from any other day. I admit that my wife and I do sometimes shop on Sundays, though technically, the Sabbath is the seventh day of the week: Saturday. So we’re okay . . .
- As a pastor, I worked a reverse Sabbath system: I worked one day a week and rested six days. Or at least, that’s what people thought . . .
- Some people believe that guaranteed income, that is a check from the government, is a good substitute for a paycheck. After all, if everyone had enough money, they wouldn’t have to work, right? Setting aside basic issues of economics for now, my question is: What good is that money going to do you if everyone else gets their check and decides not to work either? What good is your money if no one makes any goods for you to buy? What if no one is available to provide the services you want or need? What if you are hurt or sick and all the former medical people are sitting at home with their checks?
Work has more purposes to it than just earning money, as important as that is. I think we can identify five reasons why work is beneficial, but because I have already worked my fingers to the bone writing this, I will talk about the purposes of work in my next blog: “Fingers To the Bone, Part 2.” See you there!
May the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen.
Read: Deuteronomy 5:13-14; Psalm 90:17.