J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and Work That Lasts ForeverSample

We’re in a four-day plan exploring the biblical truths illustrated in J.R.R. Tolkien’s remarkable parable, Leaf by Niggle. Niggle was an artist who spent years imagining a massive painting of a tree. Sadly, Niggle died only having finished a single leaf. But when Niggle arrives in the heavenly afterlife, he finds his tree finished and even better than he imagined!

Yesterday, we saw how this story illustrates the biblical hope that there are eternal rewards tied to our work in this life (see Colossians 3:23-24). Here’s what I want us to see today: That even though we have hope that our work matters for eternity, it is only proper to mourn over unfinished and unfulfilling work today.

This is what we see Niggle doing in Tolkien’s short story. When death is on Niggle’s doorstep, he works frantically to finish his masterpiece, but eventually, he resigns himself to the inevitable: “‘Oh dear!’ said poor Niggle, beginning to weep. ‘And it’s not even finished!’”

Niggle feared what many of us dread—that we will never close the gap between what we envision accomplishing in this life and what we actually achieve. We will all die with unfinished symphonies.

But maybe you’re not mourning over the work you won’t be able to finish. Perhaps you’re mourning over work you have yet to begin. You feel as if you have yet to find the work that best matches your gifts and passions and you’re stuck in what feels like a dead-end job.

It’s only natural to lament over these things, for unfinished and unfulfilling work was not part of God’s original design for work (see Genesis 1-3). However, because of sin, work today is difficult and we will all die with unfulfilled dreams, just like Niggle.

These are things we should indeed mourn over. But just as we “do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope” in death (see 1 Thessalonians 4:13), we also do not mourn over our work in the same way as the rest of the world. Why? Because there is coming a day when we will work free from the curse of sin! 

Today’s passage from Isaiah makes this clear. Isaiah is sharing a prophetic vision of the New Earth where God will dwell with us forever (see also Revelation 21:1-5). But Isaiah’s picture of eternity isn’t of disembodied souls floating around and playing harps all day. Isaiah says we will work for eternity! We will “build houses,” “plant vineyards,” and “not labor in vain.” 

And because there will be no sin, there will be no unfinished symphonies or unfulfilling work. We will have all the time we need to paint our masterpieces, finish our novels, plant our vineyards, and “long enjoy the work of [our] hands.”

How do we maintain this perspective in the day-to-day grind of earthly work? That’s the question we’ll answer tomorrow.