If you work, why do you work? Is it because you need to provide for yourself or provide for others? Do you work to establish financial security or give your life meaning? What if work is not designed for security, identity, fame, or wealth, but rather work is for you to enjoy God and His creation while you bear God’s image in His world? God designed work for you to celebrate your relationship with Him. You have God-given skills and abilities which you most likely can use in some type of work or service.
Since God designed work as part of His creation, knowing God’s commands for work could help you in your approach to work. These three commands mentioned are not all that God has to say about work but represent a good starting point for learning more about work God’s way.
Work Command #1: Obey God’s Work-Rest Pattern
God created work with the intention for people to work in His good creation and God instituted a work-rest pattern to show people how to live in God’s creation (Genesis 2:1-3). People rejected God and later began to misuse work for their own purposes instead of God’s purposes (Genesis 11:3-4). Therefore, God responded to the rejection and the misuse of work with consequences that still exist, but God’s intention for work and His work-rest pattern also remains.
When God’s people find themselves enslaved by the pharaoh in Egypt for approximately 400 years, God intervenes on their behalf with His rescue plan. Through Moses, God gives commands to His people that remind them of God’s original command for work and rest.
Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your oxen and donkeys and other livestock, and any foreigners living among you. All your male and female servants must rest as you do. Remember that you were once slaves in Egypt, but the Lord your God brought you out with his strong hand and powerful arm. That is why the Lord your God has commanded you to rest on the Sabbath day. Deuteronomy 5:12-15
God also reminds His people that they “were once slaves in Egypt” in which they did not have the option to obey God’s work-rest pattern. Pharoah’s taskmasters worked them every day of every week, but God brought them out of that situation and reminded them of His command to work six days and rest one day each week. This work-rest pattern is God’s design for work from the beginning (Genesis 2:1-2). God expects His people to obey His command by living according to His work-rest pattern.
God designed work for you to enjoy with Him in His creation, not to overwork, thinking you will somehow violate God’s work-rest command and get ahead. God gives you time to rest from work so that your focus is on your relationship with God and not on accomplishing work or accumulating wealth.
Resting from work is an act of obedience to God that demonstrates your dependence on God. If you think working more than six days each week will help you accumulate more wealth to bring you financial security, then you have believed the lie that God is not trustworthy and His command for work and rest is not worth obeying.
Unless the Lord builds a house, the work of the builders is wasted. Unless the Lord protects a city, guarding it with sentries will do no good. It is useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, anxiously working for food to eat; for God gives rest to His loved ones. Psalm 127:1-2
The psalmist is not teaching that God objects to working hard or increasing wealth. The problem the psalmist is addressing is working hard like God is not present in your life and like God has not given a specific command for work. The psalmist is teaching that God is the source of your work success, your ultimate security, and your protection and provision. God doesn’t want you to overwork or work out of fear seeking false security in anything other than Him. God promises to provide what is needed and promises to give rest to those who love Him and obey His work-rest command.
Work Command #2: Pursue Honest Work Wholeheartedly
One section of the Old Testament are books of poetry and wisdom which includes Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs. The book of Psalms expresses a variety of human emotions recounting difficulties in life and God’s work on people’s behalf. The book of Proverbs provides instruction in wisdom and people are encouraged to seek wisdom above all else while Ecclesiastes portrays how meaningless life is apart from God. These three books provide principles of work that support God’s people pursuing honest work as a commitment to God.
A hard worker has plenty of food, but a person who chases fantasies has no sense. Proverbs 12:11
Commit your actions to the Lord, and your plans will succeed. Proverbs 16:3
Don’t make your living by extortion or put your hope in stealing. Psalm 62:10a
Whatever you do, do well. Ecclesiastes 9:10a
And if your wealth increases, don’t make it the center of your life. Psalm 62:10b
In the New Testament, the apostle Paul instructs the followers of Jesus in the cities of Ephesus, Corinth, Colossae, and Thessalonica on the merits of honest, hard work and commands them to work wholeheartedly for God.
Work with enthusiasm, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Ephesians 6:7
Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless. 1 Corinthians 15:58b
Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Colossians 3:23
Make it your goal to live a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands, just as we instructed you before. Then people who are not believers will respect the way you live, and you will not need to depend on others. 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12
If you are a thief, quit stealing. Instead, use your hands for good hard work, and then give generously to others in need. Ephesians 4:28
Remember the people receiving these instructions lived in pagan cities (Ephesus, Corinth, Colossae, and Thessalonica), and for the most part, people of these cities did not know God and God’s intention for or God’s commands for work. Therefore, they followed the work patterns and principles accepted in their own culture and what they observed others doing.
But now, they have a right relationship with God through their belief in Jesus Christ and His redemptive work on their behalf. Paul instructs them on God’s approach to work. God expects them to pursue honest work wholeheartedly as if they were working for God, not their earthly employer.
Work Command #3: Don’t Be Lazy
The words of wisdom in the book of Proverbs address a productive work ethic and describe the negative results of being lazy.
A lazy person is as bad as someone who destroys things. Proverbs 18:9
Work was created by God and designed for enjoyment with God in His creation. According to the writer of Proverbs, lazy people are as bad as people who willfully destroy things. Lazy people destroy things passively out of neglect and slothfulness while destructive people destroy things actively through anger, rage, or even for sport. Whether lazy or destructive, God categorizes these people’s behaviors as equally bad or a wrong way to live.
Lazy people want much but get little, but those who work hard will prosper. Proverbs 13:4
Work brings profit, but mere talk leads to poverty. Proverbs 14:23
Additionally, lazy people want everything others have that work hard, but instead of joining in working, they talk about doing something but never produce anything. All the talking and none of the doing/working leads to poverty. However, the opposite is true; people who work hard will eventually prosper and bring in profit.
In the New Testament, the apostle Paul instructs the followers of Jesus in the city of Thessalonica about living for God in the now instead of being lazy (or idle) in hopes that Jesus returns soon. The context of this passage is the apostle Paul addresses followers of Jesus who have a new life with God. They have been made right with God through belief in Jesus Christ and somehow, they concluded that they should stop working and not provide for themselves.
And now, dear brothers and sisters, we give you this command in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ: Stay away from all believers who live idle lives and don’t follow the traditions they received from us. For you know that you ought to imitate us. We were not idle when we were with you. We never accepted food from anyone without paying for it. We worked hard day and night so we would not be a burden to any of you. We certainly had the right to ask you to feed us, but we wanted to give you an example to follow. Even while we were with you, we gave you this command: “Those unwilling to work will not get to eat.” Yet we hear that some of you are living idle lives, refusing to work and meddling in other people’s business. We command such people and urge them in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and work to earn their own living. As for the rest of you, dear brothers and sisters, never get tired of doing good. 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13
Paul references his own work ethic and behaviors while he was among them simultaneously while he took time to teach them about God. Paul tries to correct their wrong thinking about work and commands them to go back to work and provide for themselves. For those believers in Thessalonica, who didn’t stop working, Paul encourages them to never get tired of doing good. Working in God’s creation is a good thing.
God designed work as a part of His creation and as a part of your life with Him, a specific work-rest pattern. God also provides commands for work so that you do not misplace trust in work or misuse work for your own purposes while giving additional instructions on how to approach work—honestly, wholeheartedly, and productively while avoiding laziness.
Consider these three commands for work and ask God to help you apply His commands to your work.
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