Work is a good gift.

Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot.

Ecclesiastes 5:18

Work is a blessing from God, a good gift that provides for us, nourishes us, brings pleasure even in the continuous sameness of our labor, and can point us to the worship of God. After all, God asked Adam to labor in His garden BEFORE sin ever entered into the world. Work is part of the good creation of God. It is the pain and the difficulty in that labor that was the curse God put on our toil. Work itself is a very good thing.

It is part of American culture though to have a love/hate relationship with work and to think that the best life has no toil in it. The American Dream of that charming big brick colonial home in shady suburbia, with a perfectly landscaped retirement that has us living in leisure and personal fulfillment in THINGS is a dangerous myth. Even in retirement, humans were meant to enjoy some sort of activity that provides all the benefits that Solomon reminds us are healthy about work.

My hope is to serve God vocationally until I die. Not that I want to drop dead in the church office, but I never want to sit on the sidelines for more than a brief time to catch my breath. Even if I can transition to a mostly volunteer semi-retired ministry in the next couple of decades, I hope to still be active in the enjoyable toil of disciple-making and people-helping that has made up my life. One of my worst fears is that I become a grumpy old tired man in a Lazy Boy recliner flipping through TV channels, complaining about the world, and doing nothing but look on. I’d rather keep the fire of purposeful and rewarding labor burning under me… even if it means I check into eternity early. Why? Work is a good, sweet, and rewarding gift, and God needs all the laborers who can serve out working His harvest.