Today I was thinking about the nature of work. I don't mean your occupation specifically; we work at all sorts of things. Whether it is a hobby, paid job, community service, or any other facet of life, how we handle work says a lot about our character. Do you take pride in what you do? Are you a team player? Do you put forth effort? These speak volumes about how you respond to the world around you and your willingness to persevere through hard times.
The Bible has a lot to say about work...
You will surely eat what your hands have worked for. You will be happy, and it will go well for you. (Psalms 128:2)
There is nothing better for a person than to eat, drink, and enjoy his work. I have seen that even this is from God's hand. (Ecclesiastes 2:24)
Whatever you do, do it from the heart, as something done for the Lord and not for people. (Colossians 3:23)
Among these is a Proverb that I like in particular.
A worker's appetite works for him because his hunger urges him on. (Proverbs 16:26)
The proverb appears alongside other proverbs about different types of individuals... worthless people, evil people, contrary people. It contrasts the motivation of a good worker as compared to those who work for less-than-noble causes. When we work for good purposes, it can be intoxicating. Good work leads us to achieve bigger and better things than we thought possible and to be able to last longer than we thought we could. Why? Because we know the profit for our labor.
So what is "good work"? God stated 7 times that his work was "good" in Genesis 1 before declaring everything complete and holy in Genesis 2. There was purpose and meaning in what he did; the idea of a completion in purpose is what we commonly see called "good" in the Old Testament.
To ask again, what is "good work"? It is work that has meaning and has purpose. It is work which causes us to be fulfilled and gives us a sense of enthusiasm and motivation. What is your work? What do you spend your time doing? If we find ourselves constantly exhausted, maybe it is time to assess whether we are doing "good work". Are we working for ourselves, or are we working for others? Are we working for our own purpose, or for God's purpose? Whatever we do, we can do it to glorify God. Doing so will lead to good, good work. When we learn to alter our mindset away from bad work and towards good work, we may find that we aren't quite as tired as we once were. We might even find that we are hungry for more than we thought we could do... all because we moved away from bad work based on a bad sense of purpose and moved towards an outlook more grounded in God's purpose for our lives.
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