Are you working hard or hardly working? There is an enormous difference between the two, isn’t there? Work is not one of those ‘Bible-y’ words or a religious term, but it is nonetheless something that God says a lot about in the Bible; evidently, he cares about it a great deal. In Genesis 2:15 we learn that Adam’s job was to work the garden of Eden (in other words, to care for it). This was Adam’s job before the fall. Therefore, work is good. Work did not come as a result of the fall, for it was commanded by God and performed by Adam prior to his sin. However, after the fall, work became more difficult. The ground was cursed for Adam’s sake and began to bring forth thorns, making his job harder (Genesis 3:17-18).

Because work is good, it means that we can honor God by working hard at honorable tasks. God designed us to be working, productive creatures, so we fulfill his design for us in part when we work hard at honorable tasks. But because work was made more difficult as a result of the fall, we are tempted to not work hard, or maybe even to hardly work at all. Whenever we feel tempted to not work hard or to hardly work at all we should remind ourselves of what God says on the subject. The Proverbs of Solomon are packed with timeless principles about the importance of diligence and hard work and the dangers of laziness and idleness. 

The Proverbs teach us that honest, hard work leads to lasting reward, but by contrast, wealth that is gained hastily or by fraud will diminish (Prov. 13: 11, 21:5). The wise man will be on guard against laziness, for it can quickly overtake a man and ruin him: “A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like an armed robber…” (Prov. 6:10-11, also 24:33-34). The Proverbs invite us to take a look at the ant and think about the lessons he teaches us about work. Even though the ant has no boss looking over his shoulder and no time clock to punch, he works hard to gather food and stores it up for a later time when he will need it (Prov. 6:6-8). We stand to learn an important lesson about diligent work from the little ant, such a small and seemingly insignificant bug. Let’s all strive to be more like the ant that works diligently. Yes, work can be mundane and tiresome but remember that work is good and that we honor God by doing honest work with a cheerful attitude.