Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat, to drink and enjoy oneself in all one’s labor in which he toils under the sun during the few years of his life which God has given him; for this is his reward. Furthermore, as for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, He has also empowered him to eat from them and to receive his reward and rejoice in his labor; this is the gift of God. For he will not often consider the years of his life, because God keeps him occupied with the gladness of his heart. (Ecclesiastes 5:18-20, NASB)
Work. Many of us (me included) consider work, or labor to be drudgery. But that’s not what God intended it to be. Adam and Eve were put in the Garden of Eden to attend to all the plants God had put there. But when they sinned, God expelled them from the garden, and told them that they would have to do laborious work in order to plant and harvest their crops. THAT’S when work became difficult. But what does the wisest man who ever lived say about our work? It’s there in the Bible passage above.
In short, King Solomon, in the book of Ecclesiastes, says that one should “enjoy oneself in all one’s labor in which he toils under the sun during the few years of his life which God has given him.” Yikes! And why should we enjoy ourselves? “For this is [our] reward.” Later, the Apostle Paul wrote that in our labor, we should work as to the Lord. The Lord is indeed our Boss. (Old bumper sticker: “My Boss is a Jewish Carpenter.”)
So God wants us to appreciate everything He’s given to us, including our labor. When I pray for someone, I pray that God will bless him or her in their work. That means that God will make them happy in their labor. I’m at the age where many of my contemporaries are retired from their professions. But our labor isn’t about just a paying job. It’s any kind of toil. If we drag a trash can to the curb; if we clean our house; if we cut the grass, that’s the labor in which we’re to revel. Many of my friends from Sunday School are in hospital. Their work is to recover and rehab.
The wisest man who ever lived says that our work is “the gift of God.” Through our labors, “God keeps [us] occupied with the gladness of [our hearts].” Work, or labor, is one of God’s gifts to us. We’re to appreciate all of our work, to treat it as a blessing. We will be working in heaven. Life for us who believe in Jesus is just a dress rehearsal for eternity!
