Why Work?

The first day of the week our children have learned to recognize is Saturday. They recognized the rest of the week days by asking what comes after Saturday or before Saturday. They perfected their elementary counting skills by figuring out how many times they still needed to sleep until it would be Saturday again.

What makes Saturday a holy day for them? That's the day Daddy doesn't go to work, of course. That's the day Daddy is home when they wake up, and they are allowed to tag along the whole day, watching what he does, assisting with every task, and asking every question that comes to their minds.

One Friday evening, excitement was running particularly high. (Saturday actually starts when Daddy comes home Friday evening.) Four-year-old Zachary sat contentedly on my lap, lost in thought, while his sisters competed with each other to be the first to tell me a story they were sure I hadn't heard yet. Finally, once there was a break in the evening newscast, he had a chance for his question. “Daddy, when will your work be all done? Like, not just for the day but all done so you don't have to go to the shop anymore?”

Hmm. Should a dad answer such questions with cold, hard facts or try to frame it in a way to not disappoint little minds? I didn't want to dampen the mood with the reality that daddy will always go to work, so I turned it into a discussion about why we need to work in the first place. The children seemed satisfied but that question has nagged me ever since and brought a lot more with it:

• Am I working too many hours a week?

• Where does the forty-hour work week come from?

• Is it wrong to work more than that on average?

• How does a man know the balance between a workaholic and being slothful?

• Where is the demarcation between providing for our family and the love of money?

• What does it mean to provide for our family? When there's food on the table and this month’s bills are paid? Or is it to be debt-free and have enough saved for a comfortable retirement?

Business associates of ours from a conservative community work fifty hours in a slow week. If success is measured by sales volume and money in the bank, they're on a level few can even dream of achieving. I know others who figure that since they've only one life to live it might as well be enjoyed. If this month’s bills are paid and it looks like next month will work out as well, it's time for another fishing excursion. Some people say the key in life is moderation; if one aims for the middle of these two examples would that be about right?

It is easy for me to identify with The Preacher who wrote, “Then said I in my heart, as it happeneth to the fool, so it happeneth even to me; and why was I then more wise? ….. Therefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me: for all is vanity and vexation of spirit.” (Eccl. 2:15,17 KJV)

We see that from the very beginning, even before the Fall, God intended for man to work. As with everything else God does, the Devil seeks to distort and destroy the original design. Most of us, I imagine, know other men who work too much or too little.

By extension, that leaves us in that Goldilocks zone where we're just right simply because we can see another guy's weaknesses.

It would be interesting to know what a typical day of work was like for Adam before the Fall. Did he rouse from sweet slumber an hour after sunrise to begin his day with a big cup of coffee? Did the wheat and rice need to be planted and cultivated, or did he harvest only what was needed to sustain their bodies? Did the apples and grapes need to be pruned to bear fruit, or could he just pick from the abundance? Was dressing and keeping the garden an eight-hour-a-day job?

Many people seem to think money and work are synonyms. The dream seems to be the day when work is no longer in the schedule. From observing the effects of labor on humans from my young children to the aged around us, I believe money and work should be viewed independently. While we generally acquire money through work, money tends to affect us negatively and labor typically produces positive effects. Though most people come to the point where work is unnecessary for financial reasons we do well to remember that God designed us with the need to be gainfully occupied.

Typically, the destruction of Sodom is ascribed to the sin that bears its name. In Ezekiel, we are given a list of reasons for its destruction that make me wonder if there isn't something missing in that explanation. “Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister

Sodom, pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good” (Ezekiel 16:49-50 KJV). Would it be correct to say that their abomination was a fruit of turning away from God's original intent for us humans to be productively occupied?

The writer of Ecclesiastes clearly grappled with these same questions thousands of years ago. One of his conclusions would seem to indicate that I should be doing a few more fishing trips. “There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God” (Eccl. 2:24). The thought of hunting or fishing or rocking a chair on the back porch as a way to enjoy the fruit of my labor seems unappealing and selfish. What does resonate with me is Jesus' description of judgment day in Matthew 25. The ones on His right hand were clearly occupied with more than sipping coffee on the back porch.