Are we supposed to work?

Some people don't want to work. We live in a service economy but it is readily apparent that many of the people hired to provide serves really don't want to. Think of the folks typically encountered at a fast food restaurant, retail store, or the Department of Motor Vehicles. Many of us spend our 9-to-5 work time thinking about what we are going to do on our evenings and on the weekend. Others are eagerly counting the years down to retirement.

This aversion to work is not a matter of laziness. Many people pour enormous amounts of energy into their leisure. If people don't want to work, it is due to something other than laziness.

Since we know God provides, we know that providing is not the purpose of work. And, it seems like you could make a pretty good case that at least some people don't want to work. So that raises an even more fundamental question than the purpose of work: Are we supposed to work? The assumption that work has a purpose is based on the idea that we are supposed to work, in the first place. Is that a fair assumption?

The GEO Principle is based on the idea that it is a fair assumption; we are supposed to work. If you accept the idea that God put us here, then work seems inevitable. At the most basic level, we need food, shelter and clothing. God could have made us so that we never need to eat, or so that we don't need shelter, or so that we are always perfectly comfortable, but he didn't. He gave us a world where we can get what we need, but we have to go out and get it. He gave us eyes and ears, arms and legs, and a brain to help us.

The great evangelist Paul sums it up at 2 Thessalonians 3:10 where he says: "if anyone will not work, neither shall he eat." That sounds incredibly harsh in a culture where we have a highly developed social safety net to protect people who can't work, due to disability or other difficult circumstance. But even Paul knows his statement doesn't apply to everyone. He doesn't expect new-born babies to go out and work for their food. The statement is a generality, and I think in general, it is valid.

For me, however, it is another scripture story that convinces me of the need to work. Matthew tells the story in chapter 25, verses 14-30. This is where we find the story about the wealthy man who prepares to go on a journey by giving three servants some money. He gives one five coins, another two coins and a third, he gives one coin. The man leaves and comes back some time later. During that absence, the servant with five coins invested it and doubled his master's funds. The servant with two coins did the same. The third servant did nothing with his coin. When the news was shared upon the man's return, he was very happy with the first two servants and very disappointed with the third.

I can think of God as the man and I can think of myself as one of those three servants. Clearly, the man expects all three servants to go out and work. And, this story shows that work is not about providing for yourself. The man gave each of the servants money. They did not have to go out and get it on their own. They had what they needed; the story is all about what they did with what they were given. Two did something, one did nothing. The question for anyone reading this story is: Which servant are you going to be? Of course, you want to be one of the servants who does something.

So, of course, we are supposed to work. Aversions to work do not come from a sense that we are not supposed to work; they have others sources, which will be explored as this dialogue develops.

Comments

[Jackie Hilgert]

I believe, like you, that we are supposed to work. But meaningful work doesn't always result in compensation. In the world, many subsistence farmers work hard, gain their daily "bread" but aren't compensated unless they can sell surplus, whereby the fruits of their labor become currency. I think that's a pretty good set up. But in today's world, especially in urban areas, an arrangement like this is not only unfeasable, it's likely illegal. So our government (meaning ourselves) have set us up to take "work" for which we get compensated, even work that leaves us feeling empty.

[Tom Bengtson]

You are, of course, right. I am going to write about that on Monday. Have a great weekend!