It’s a Hard Knock Life

I do feel fulfilled when I go through a phase of hard work, but I can also feel stressed.

I’d never advise anyone to overstretch themselves, but hard work not only benefits society, it benefits our own mental health too. Or maybe, I should just say “work”. It doesn’t need to be particularly hard. But it’s good to be challenged.

Another thing that interests me is the fact that sometimes, when you’re in the thick of something difficult, you’re just longing for it to end. But after a while, when you look back, you find it very satisfying and fulfilling. You might even wish you were back in it 😀. Maybe you just forget about the stressy feelings that came with it.

Needless to say, hard work benefits broader society and it’s certainly something that pleases God. In the Book of Proverbs, there are many references to the benefits of hard work, and this is also echoed in the New Testament.

Proverbs 14:23
“All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.”

2 Thessalonians 3:6-12
Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you. It was not because we do not have that right, but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate. For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.

I like how the apostle Paul was so different from all these modern dodgy TV evangelists and megachurch leaders who constantly hound people for money. Not all of them are dodgy of course, because all that stuff does cost money, but it would be a funny experience to give the Apostle Paul lunch and have him insist on paying for it. But he probably noticed so many people who saw church as a lucrative business venture that he did his utmost to stamp out greed – firstly by setting an example.

Clearly, in the early church, some were abusing whatever social welfare system was in place. Some do this blatantly. I remember reading on a forum recently some guy boasting that he got his elderly mother to pretend to show an interest in a local church so that they would renovate her house for her. Not everyone would be so dishonest. But some people go through their lives living off others without even realizing it. Undoubtedly, at times, we might be forced to do this, for example, for physical or mental health reasons. But if we can at all, it’s so much better to know that you’re a net contributor to society rather than a burden.

When you’re working, you might resent or envy the unemployed, but when you are unemployed, it can be a miserable existence. A few days ago, a daily prompt asked about dream jobs. One thing that I’d love to do, if I was able, would be to match unemployed people or people with disabilities with fulfilling jobs. But even if that proves difficult, people can always find ways to work, even if it’s just at the level of household and garden, education or being an encouragement to others. You can even do this through blogging.

So, let’s see if I can find a hymn to close with. I can’t think of any hymns about work as such. The closest ones that I can think of are Bringing in the Sheaves and Work for Jesus. These are more about motivating ourselves to live for Jesus and spread the gospel. But our working lives are part of that. If a church were evangelizing me, I would put a lot more weight on the words of a hard-working person than a person who just went to church to find people who might be useful to them in some way 😀.