Work to Honor God

“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might.” -Ecclesiastes 9:10a (NKJV). “For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: ‘If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat.’’ –II Thessalonians 3:10 (NKJV).

I recently read an interesting article by T. R. McNeal on the theology of work. He stated that God is a working God who worked to create the universe and all that is in it, and He works likewise to sustain it. Mankind, created in God’s image, was placed on the earth to work. “Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and keep it.” (Genesis 2:15). Labor did not come about due to man’s fall. Man was already working to cultivate the earth and make it produce. After man became rebellious and sinned by partaking of what God told him to leave alone, Adam and Eve were expelled from the beautiful Garden of Eden, and work became complicated. Because of the fall, “Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life…In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground.” (Genesis 3:17b, 19a, NKJV). The commission made to Adam ages ago to work and subdue the earth still remains in force. Today agriculture is not the main mode of work. Mankind is engaged in work that is physical, social, cultural and spiritual in nature. But whatever we do to make a living, God’s people are to practice integrity in work. We are to work to honor God and help mankind.

My mother and father were strong proponents of the words from Ecclesiastes 9:10a: “Whatever your hands finds to do, do it with your might.” No shoddiness in work habits and products from labor were allowed. Another adage they practiced, which I don’t think is biblical, but it is akin to the lesson from “the preacher” in Ecclesiastes: “If a job is worth doing, it is worth doing well.” On the farm, too, we saw living proof of what Paul wrote to the church at Thessalonica: “If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat” (II Thes. 3:10). And our theology of work had to do with “giving an honest day's work for a day's wage.” With these teachings early in life, both given orally and by parents who by their example were paragons of hard work, I gratefully learned not only the value and necessity for work, but that Christians should strive to be honest, conscientious and productive in their work.

Another important aspect of work—whatever we do to make a living—is to view our labor first and foremost as serving God. For a Christian, the primary aim of any type of work is ministry. Christians may work on a farm, in an office, as teachers, in an administrative position, as a common laborer in a variety of jobs, their workplace is their ministry post. Jesus taught us that we are salt and light. We become His representatives in the workplace. Because we are His workmanship through His grace, we have a new and purposeful perspective on work. We work willingly, cheerfully and diligently to make a difference in the work-a-day world. Think of the difference we can make in the world if we apply a sound theology of work to everything we do! Spend some time thinking about your work and what God expects you to do and to be through your work. Pray that whatever your hands find to do in the work-a-day world God will be honored.