An obvious and very relevant question in today’s time.  Most of us need it more than we think.  Even if we are fortunate enough to have work right now, we often overlook our need for it.  Our need for income and a means to provide for our families is obvious.  But our basic need to work is much deeper than that.  I have been greatly blessed throughout my working career to have a good job, one that has given me a sense of fulfillment, provided for my family, and blessed me well beyond my basic needs.

More recently, my job has become a challenge, not due to difficulties in performing the work, or not having the skills or experience to do it, but more due to a high degree of tedium and the crush of a lot of work to do in limited time.  There are several barriers to progress that often confound me.  Yet, I know that by persevering, I will eventually be the better for it.

I strive to learn from Colossians 3:23:

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

But due to my shallow and forgetful understanding of this verse, work sometimes seems to become more of a sense of duty and obligation.  What I often fail to realize is that having work to do is a blessing from God (just ask anyone who really needs work, and wants work, but cannot find it).

Work is a blessing, not only because of what it does for us and our families and our economy, but also because it allows us to live out God’s imprint on our souls.  God, himself, is a worker.

Genesis 2: 2-3:

By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.  And 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.

We get to work, use our gifts, talents, and abilities to create things, solve problems, devise solutions, and meet the needs of others in various ways.

To put my job in better perspective, I have asked myself: If I were out of work long enough for my financial situation to feel the pinch, would I take a job doing what I do now for the same or less money?  The answer is an unquestionable YES!

This short simple answer tells the story.  My current job with all its perceived problems is a blessing!  While I still try to remember Colossians 3:23, I also need to live out 1 Thessalonians 4: 11-12:

Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.

May God provide for you the blessing of work!