Working
This week is on a couple verses. Genesis 2:2-3, 2:15, 3:17-19:
Sometimes we fall into the heresy that the Christian life is supposed to be some kind of pampered existence, free of toil. Is it hard, or tedious, or time-consuming? Just make God do it! We become "entitled" and allergic to hardship. While it's true that the curse of original sin has made life harder, and work less fulfilling, it doesn't mean that freedom from the curse implies no work. If God can work six days and rest one, who are we to expect better?
Work, paid and unpaid, builds character. I know it's cliché, but it really does. From the idle rich we get things like bailouts and oppression, and from the idle poor we get things like muggings and drive-by shootings. These are people who don't contribute to the society they live off of, and who are so detached from those who do contribute that they can no longer relate to them. They begin to see themselves as gods, not needing the others, but deserving their support and the fruits of their labor. When we say that someone hasn't worked a day in their life, it's not a compliment!
God created the garden, and then placed Adam and Eve into it to work and take care of it. Think about that for a minute. There's nothing about angels on clouds with harps there. Nobody's mashing bananas up and spooning them into their mouths, or feeding them clusters of grapes. They had a purpose and their purpose was to do something.
The curse wasn't that we would have to work in the first place, but that it would be difficult and unfulfilling. God's work was creating. Anyone who has done creative work has probably experienced time in "the zone" where it is both exhausting and effortless, and extremely fulfilling. My guess is that Adam and Eve's original work was like that. Otherwise the curse would be meaningless. But even Adam and Eve had to put forth some effort.
In the sense that God did it, and that we were created to do it, work can be a form of worship. It makes sense. A machine that does what it is supposed to do is a glory to its creator. When you're helping others, or praying for them, or earning the money that goes to helping others, you're glorifying God. Being mindful of that can go a long way towards making it enjoyable.
Our natural inclination is probably more evil than any previous generation. We exist in a time of such unrivaled luxury that most of us have no idea what real work is. We have machines to wash our clothes, and servants to grow, pick, prepare, and cook our food. We have entertainment of every kind, from all over the world, even from artists who have been dead for fifty years, all available instantly. Even simple tasks like digging a garden plot or cooking a healthy meal seem like hardship to some of us. We're like the noble princes and princesses of Rome, before it collapsed under the weight of its own decadence. Our hands are soft, our nails and sleeves are long, and our biggest cares are on what entertainment we'll choose next.
If we find ourselves in a situation where we really have to work at something, we should be thankful. Because God created us for it, it is a testament to his glory when we complete it. The worst thing we can do is sit on our pillows and wait to be rescued from our purpose. So, if you find yourself shying away from the sort of effort it would take to change your life, or improve the world around you, consider that you were created for things like that. Why should comfort be a greater god to you than the God who created you?
By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
[...]
The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
[...]
To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’
“Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat of it
all the days of your life.
It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return.”
Sometimes we fall into the heresy that the Christian life is supposed to be some kind of pampered existence, free of toil. Is it hard, or tedious, or time-consuming? Just make God do it! We become "entitled" and allergic to hardship. While it's true that the curse of original sin has made life harder, and work less fulfilling, it doesn't mean that freedom from the curse implies no work. If God can work six days and rest one, who are we to expect better?
Work, paid and unpaid, builds character. I know it's cliché, but it really does. From the idle rich we get things like bailouts and oppression, and from the idle poor we get things like muggings and drive-by shootings. These are people who don't contribute to the society they live off of, and who are so detached from those who do contribute that they can no longer relate to them. They begin to see themselves as gods, not needing the others, but deserving their support and the fruits of their labor. When we say that someone hasn't worked a day in their life, it's not a compliment!
God created the garden, and then placed Adam and Eve into it to work and take care of it. Think about that for a minute. There's nothing about angels on clouds with harps there. Nobody's mashing bananas up and spooning them into their mouths, or feeding them clusters of grapes. They had a purpose and their purpose was to do something.
The curse wasn't that we would have to work in the first place, but that it would be difficult and unfulfilling. God's work was creating. Anyone who has done creative work has probably experienced time in "the zone" where it is both exhausting and effortless, and extremely fulfilling. My guess is that Adam and Eve's original work was like that. Otherwise the curse would be meaningless. But even Adam and Eve had to put forth some effort.
In the sense that God did it, and that we were created to do it, work can be a form of worship. It makes sense. A machine that does what it is supposed to do is a glory to its creator. When you're helping others, or praying for them, or earning the money that goes to helping others, you're glorifying God. Being mindful of that can go a long way towards making it enjoyable.
Our natural inclination is probably more evil than any previous generation. We exist in a time of such unrivaled luxury that most of us have no idea what real work is. We have machines to wash our clothes, and servants to grow, pick, prepare, and cook our food. We have entertainment of every kind, from all over the world, even from artists who have been dead for fifty years, all available instantly. Even simple tasks like digging a garden plot or cooking a healthy meal seem like hardship to some of us. We're like the noble princes and princesses of Rome, before it collapsed under the weight of its own decadence. Our hands are soft, our nails and sleeves are long, and our biggest cares are on what entertainment we'll choose next.
If we find ourselves in a situation where we really have to work at something, we should be thankful. Because God created us for it, it is a testament to his glory when we complete it. The worst thing we can do is sit on our pillows and wait to be rescued from our purpose. So, if you find yourself shying away from the sort of effort it would take to change your life, or improve the world around you, consider that you were created for things like that. Why should comfort be a greater god to you than the God who created you?
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