Work Works

"I'm not afraid of work. I can lie right down beside it." While that is a comical and perhaps, at times, heartfelt statement, it doesn't match up with God's plan for us. The Bible says in II Thessalonians 3:10 "If a man will not work, he shall not eat." Today is Labor Day and we honor the working men and women.

Besides obedience to God's principle and providing food to eat, work has other values. Anyone who has been without a job for any length of time will testify to the fact that work gives a sense of worthiness to life. It is fulfilling to accept the challenge to do a job and do it well. It is also a way of testimony to others when we work "as unto the Lord."

In my college years I had a job at a boat company one summer. My responsibility was to use a bending machine to bend the aluminum rails for boats. The job was repetitive and boring. I was given a minimum number of pieces to bend per hour. I found that my job became more interesting and the time passed by more quickly when I competed with myself to exceed the required output while maintaining the quality of the product. Then my efforts were really rewarded when the boss noticed my high output and held me up as a good example for the whole shop. I'd like to think that my work motivated others to work hard as well.

If we can keep a good attitude toward our work and pass that attitude and work ethic on to others than we have succeeded in ministering grace even while carrying out a task that might be boring on the surface. Let's join that honored work force and demonstrate that work works.