Work Is A Gift Of GraceSample

Good Work from a Good God

Through the Old Testament, we learn the importance of work, included in the Ten Commandments. God says that we should work for six days but rest on the seventh. His original design for work was that people would spend their lives productively, with regular leisure to celebrate God’s blessings. The Hebrew word for labor is “abodah,” which can also translate into service. Work is our service unto the Lord, which is also a form of worship. Did you ever think that as you go to work, you are serving and worshipping God? This puts a whole new spin on our work and how God views it. 

In Ecclesiastes 2:24, we get perhaps one of the best views on God’s graciousness through the gift of work. “Nothing is better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. This also, I saw, was from the hand of God. For who can eat, or who can have enjoyment, more than I?” The verse says that nothing is better. Even after the fall, we still find that nothing is better for a man than enjoying the good he finds in his labor. What a ringing endorsement for work! We are to find enjoyment in our work because it was given to us by a good God. Good work from a good God is good for the soul. This is the way God designed it and how we are to engage in it. Our work is meant to be understood and enjoyed as a gift from a gracious and good God.

As we look into the New Testament, we see a very interesting pattern emerge. Work was a part of the everyday life of Jesus and His disciples. In fact, Jesus was a worker who spent thirty years of His life as a stonemason. Jesus built with His hands, working with wood and stones. 

Paul was a tent-maker, while Peter was a fisherman. Matthew was a tax collector. Jesus said, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.” Both Jesus and God are workers. They worked together at creation. If both Jesus and God worked, shouldn’t we work as well? They set an example for us. They are our example not only for our work life, but in how we too can love, serve, and extend grace to others.