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Ecclesiastes 1:3 NLT
‘What do people get for all their hard work under the sun?’
Recently I selected some diffusers from a well-known department store which were reduced by 20%. I wanted to buy some to add to the atmosphere of the Oratory. At the till I was told they weren’t on the reduced price offer. I pointed to the clearly displayed sign, but the shop assistant responded with why things were not registering on the till, how the offer had ended the day before, and that the tills were playing up. It was a long litany of excuses that offered me no comfort. We have all experienced bad service and have met people in the workplace who are negative and unhelpful.
So why work? Is it to secure income to pay for the basics, and then some extra for the finer things in life?
Scripture teaches that work is in collaboration with God for the good of God’s creation. Industrialisation might have replaced the soil with the factory or office garden as the working context for most people, however, work is to reflect the values closest to God’s heart. The silence surrounding Jesus’ Nazareth years suggests that he worked as a carpenter and honoured his parents. Those adult years before his ministry and Passion reveal that perhaps the majority of our working life is unremarkable, save that we reflect God’s values of integrity, honesty and diligence. We work to provide for ourselves, yet never forgetting that we are to always have an eye out for our neighbour and their welfare.
A reluctance to work for anything other than the personal rewards it apparently offers us is why some regard work as tiresome toiling beneath the harsh rays of an unrelenting sun. But we are called to work, at whatever we are able to offer, demonstrating a commitment to service and to the welfare of humanity, including our own. When we lose sight of this, we distort the market and the meaning of work.
QUESTION: Consider how much you value your work.
PRAYER: Lord, teach me how to work so that in all things I work for you.
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