Your kids are never too young to start talking to them about work. Teaching them the foundational reasons behind why we work and what the Bible teaches about work will help equip them to view work as a blessing and not a curse.
Try asking your kids the question “Why do we work?”
Kids are smart, they will probably offer some good reasons. Here are a couple common answers:
We work to make money and support ourselves.
Yes, this is true and very good reason to work. We do need to support ourselves and our families and work is the principal means of achieving this goal. But if this was the main reason then rich people would not need to work, but in fact many wealthy people continue to work. If this was the main reason then retired people could just sit back and relax, but research shows the healthiest, happiest retirees are those that continue to work or volunteer at least some of the time.
We work to give our lives purpose.
Yes, we can find purpose in our work and ideally, we should hope to find some meaning and purpose in our work. But if we make our work our principal source of purpose or identity then we are in for a shock if we find ourselves injured or otherwise unable to work. Many retirees struggle with the transition to retirement if they leave a career that they used to define themselves.
These are common answers and they are thoughtful with some truth to them but they are not the foundational reason we work. Both reasons miss the mark.
The principal reason we work is because God is a worker and we are made in His image. At our core, we are designed to work.
In Genesis, God creates everything. He used his creativity, intelligence, and will to design and create the entire universe from the galaxies down to the tiniest molecule. He proclaimed His work to be good! In Genesis 1:26-30 we read,
26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
27 So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.
God created humans in His image with a job to rule over His creation. Genesis 2: 15 says,
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
Again, one of God’s purposes in creating Adam and Eve and placing them in the Garden of Eden was to cultivate and care for creation.
One thing you should notice is that all this work is happening before Adam and Eve sinned! God designed and created us for work and called it good. Work is not a “necessary evil” but something we are made for.
Why do we work? Because that’s how God made us!
When we work we are aligning ourselves with God’s design and His purpose for us. This is one reason why you will hear that people who don’t work are often unhappy or depressed. They are missing out on who God designed them to be.
This is why wealthy people, Christians and non-Christians, find enjoyment and meaning in work even if they don’t need to money. This is why government programs that enable people to avoid work by giving them handouts do more harm than good.
Work, whether paid or volunteer, is a critical part of who we are as humans. When we work we are living as God created us to be.
But why is work often hard, meaningless, or unfruitful?
Sin marred and twisted work just as it marred all of creation. After the Fall, God tells Adam,
17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’
“Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat food from it
all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return.”
The painful toil of work, the “thorns and thistles”, are a result of the Fall, not because work itself is bad. We can acknowledge that work is good and part of who we are while at the same time acknowledge that in a broken world our work will never be all that God intended. For that we need to wait for the new heavens and earth!
So let’s set a good example for our kids by how we talk about our own work and encourage them to see their work (even their schoolwork!) as part of who God meant them to be.
If this topic interests you, let me recommend the book Every Good Endeavor for Tim Keller. I found this book not only a great resource for understanding the biblical view or work but also such an encouragement to view the purpose and possibilities of my work for God’s Kingdom. Check it out!
