Summary

             Work is a worthwhile thing. We will not always enjoy it, and we benefit from vacations. But when we do work, neither shirking our tasks nor overworking gives glory to God. What does glorify him is honest labor, done diligently, and kept in balance with the rest of our lives.

Working Woes

            Have you heard the reports about how workers in the United States stack up vacation-wise against workers in other countries? The country that grants the most paid vacation is Italy, where workers have an average of 42 days a year off. Next come the French, with a respectable 35, followed by Brazil with 34, Sweden with 32, Britain with 28 and Canada with 26. Even the Japanese, who sometimes have to be coerced to take time off, get an average of 25 days.

            What about Americans? A measly 13. Granted, when you add in a handful of holidays, the figure goes up slightly, but it never catches up to our foreign counterparts.

            So if you feel as if you have been working hard, you have!

            Of course, any of us who have been employed for a few years know that is true. Even the best job can be a grind when you have to do it every day.

 Christians are hard workers

            In our reading today, we get Paul’s view of work, one that is both practical and accepting of the reality that work needs to be part of life. Apparently there were some lazy people within the church at Thessalonica. Paul sternly advised them that Christianity and laziness are incompatible. He pointed out that when he and his fellow preachers were there among the Thessalonians, they refused to allow the Christian community to support them, but made their own living even while ministering to the church.

            In general, we have taken Paul’s words to heart, so much so that while Paul intended that everyone in the Christian community should do his or her share, that concept eventually degenerated into a solemn duty to work. For some people, that ethic to work incessantly has gotten separated from its biblical origins and has become in effect a religion in its own right.

            Work can even intrude into our personal lives. There’s a story about the manager of a company with 500 employees who was so enmeshed in his work that he had a hard time paying attention to his own family. One night, he got into bed obviously fretting about some problem at work. After a few moments, his wife, in disgust, got out of bed. When he asked why, she said, “I’m getting up. This bed is not big enough for 502 people!”

            There are plenty of people in the world at large who try to shirk work, but by and large, Christians are not among them.

Faith and labor

            I’m not suggesting for a minute that we shouldn’t work hard, but let’s think for a few moments about the meaning of work in a Christian’s life.

            First, hard work and Christianity are not the same thing. Now that may seem obvious, but as already mentioned, we sometimes forget that. Is it possible for someone who will not work to be a Christian? Yes. Failure to work is not in and of itself a sin. But if that person is relying on others to take care of his or her needs, then there may be some selfishness involved that needs to be dealt with.

            We need to remember that Christianity is first and foremost a relationship between God and ourselves. The more we let that relationship affect us, the more we will behave in ways that please God. One result of that is that when we do agree to work for someone, we will do our best during the time we are working. Honest labor is likely to be one fruit of Christian commitment, but not the cause of it. We cannot become Christians by working harder, but we may work harder because we are Christians.

            Second, it is possible to go too far in our commitment to our work. Can workaholics be Christians? Of course. But if they are shortchanging their families or other vital responsibilities, then that needs to be dealt with. When we give so much of ourselves to our work that all other relationships, including the one with God, suffer, we have some priorities wrong.

            When we work hard, it appears noble. People don’t usually criticize us for overwork. But don’t be fooled. Overzealous commitment to work is a modern equivalent of what the Bible calls idolatry or demon possession. True workaholics are under a compulsion to serve that which is not the Lord of Life. We ought to be servants of God who work, not servants of a career.

            When we overwork constantly, we may say we do it to give our family a good standard of living, but our family may be losing our time and attention and other signs of affection. In some lines of work, when a promotion comes, it is common for people to congratulate the rising achiever and at the same time offer condolences to the spouse.

            Third, when Christianity is thoroughly mixed into our being, the work that we do agree to do will be done diligently. When Paul wrote to the Colossians, he said “Whatever your task, put yourselves into it, as done for the Lord and not for your masters.” Christians do, ultimately, work for God, and not just for the employer who issues the paycheck.

A place to serve the Lord

            For years, Youngstown, Ohio, was a major steel-producing center. But in the early 1980s, Youngstown, along with Pittsburgh, Cleveland and some other towns, became known as the Rust Belt. The U.S. steel industry had failed to modernize and was being beaten in price by steel from foreign mills. Many people who had worked in the mills found themselves suddenly laid off, with little prospect of ever being called back.

            One of those suddenly unemployed workers, a man named Tony, was a committed Christian. Naturally jobs were tight in the area, but after some hard looking, Tony found another job in a small factory. He was earning half of his former wage, and under those circumstances, some people would say, “Well, then, I’m not going to work that hard.” But Tony didn’t feel that way. As a Christian he said, “I agreed to work for this company for this wage, and I’m going to do my best.”

            So he went at it. In less than six weeks, he received a 50-cent an hour raise. After six months, he was promoted over employees who had been there much longer. His employer told him he wished all their employees worked as conscientiously as Tony did.

            Now obviously, Tony also had the skills that qualified him for the promotion, but his attitude reflected his faith. Whatever your job, your Christian attitude should show itself.

            One woman tells of happy memories from her childhood where she used to tag along with her mother as her mom did the household chores. Her mom was a Christian and often sang while she worked. The little girl particularly liked the song her mother sang while bringing in the laundry from the clothesline. It wasn’t until several years later that she realized that what her mother was singing was the hymn “Bringing in the Sheaves,” not “Bringing in the Sheets”! The girl misunderstood the words, but she did not misunderstand her mother’s attitude toward her daily tasks.

            Of course, no amount of faith is an inoculation against the boredom or weariness that can overtake any of us, no matter how good a job we want to do. But it helps to remember that while our life is more than our job, our job can be a place where we serve our Lord. There was a man, a baker by trade, who taught Sunday school at his church and served on a church committee. One day, while riding a train, he was approached by an overzealous woman he’d never seen before who was trying to evangelize people. She asked him, “What work do you do for God?” He replied, “I bake bread.” She said, “I don’t mean your trade, but what service do you do for our Savior?” “I bake bread,” he said. She tried again, “I mean, how are you seeking to glorify Christ and spread his gospel?” “I bake bread,” he said once more. And when done in the right spirit, that’s exactly right.

 Giving glory to God

            Work is a worthwhile thing. We will not always enjoy it. We may find an honest way where we can take more time off. Nothing wrong with that, for work and faith are not the same thing. Many of us would benefit from more paid vacations. But when we do work, neither shirking our tasks nor overworking gives glory to God. What does glorify him is honest labor, done diligently, and kept in balance with the rest of our lives.