Monday, September 5, 2011

Labor, but not too much

God created Adam to work! When God was busy creating the heavens and the earth, His plan was always for humanity to work taking care of His creation. Adam wasn't put into the garden to live a life of idleness—Genesis 2:15 explains that Adam was placed in the Garden of Eden to tend to the garden (the real “oldest” profession). Just a few verses earlier, Genesis notes that, after creation but before humanity, “there was no one to work the ground” (2:5). Adam wasn't created to be lazy—he was made to work! Working is part of our nature. What I mean by that is that work is as much a part of being human as our heart or our need to breathe.


Ironically, many of us are celebrating our labor with a day off today. And that's great! Because just as God created us to be working, He also created us to need rest. God rested on the 7th day, not because He was tired, but because His work was finished and He wanted to show us how to pause, how to stop. Sabbath was about taking time away from work to be with family and worship God.

It's important to see work in terms of balance. If we are able to work, God expects us to do so. But He also created us to need rest. The balance is key.

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