During the COVID lockdown there has been some confusion over who is working, who is on furlough - who is paying for what - who is working from home, indeed what is work! Many large corporations are reassessing how work is managed. Some have said they don’t need large offices in big cities. Office staff can work more efficiently online from home etc. etc. Some have been made redundant (not a biblical term). This all seems far removed from the curse on Adam due to sin, 'by the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground’ and the follow up--only slightly more positive--text in Ecclesiastes 9:10: 'Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going’. Through the ages work has evolved from being a curse to becoming a way of salvation. Indeed in many religious traditions good works lead to salvation of one form or another. However, the biblical teaching is that good work is evidence of the saving Grace of God in our lives. As Paul writes in Ephesians 2:8: For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God. But then some (not all) in society argue that if you get free gifts--such as Government benefits--you are less inclined to work. Paul corrects the misapprehension of easy grace in Romans 6 and of course in 2 Thessalonians 3:10 he writes: 'For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. For we hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but are busybodies.' Doesn’t that describe some of the problem of busybodies in society today?
So what is the answer? In a word, Character. In another word, Diligence. Obviously, this applies as much to home schooling/learning!
Solomon writes, 'Guard your hearts with all diligence for out of it is the wellspring of life’. The heart should be the starting place for great works. You believe in your heart that God has raised Jesus from the dead and are justified (by Grace). It is good to have a combination of physical work and mental work and spiritual work but all should start with the heart. We travail in prayer because we are burdened in our hearts. Prayer is not a mental exercise. We achieve great physical works when our heart is in it (if your heart is not in your work it becomes a slog). When our heart is right before God our minds are stimulated towards discovering not only the mysteries and miracles of Creation but what is right and what is wrong with the world and why it is wrong! Some atheists say they don’t need meaning or purpose in their lives. One wonders how they are ever motivated to get up in the morning? For Christians however, the eternal purpose and motivation for good works is to bring glory to God out of thanksgiving for all He has done for us. Work becomes a joy. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:10). When the life of Christ becomes real to us then living it out becomes a natural outWORKing. Whatever you do, do it heartily, as unto the Lord and not to men, Colossians 3:23.
Secular sociologists, historians and philosophers may see the ‘work ethic’ as a method for making money, spawning an industrial revolution or achieving protestant hegemony (as some Chinese researchers have surmised) but for Christians it is simply a matter of diligence before God as an outcome of a great salvation--not looking out for the praise of men but looking forward to the heavenly commendation, “Well done good and faithful servant."