If You Don’t Work You Don’t Eat! - Part 1
You have probably noticed the lack of workforce in America. I could keep ten young men busy for a year here at Lamplighter—girls too! But where are the young men? In this year’s Masters Guild collegiate program we have 17 girls registered and only 4 young men. Could it be the video game influence upon their brains or is it that they just never developed a love for work? One of the things I love here at Lamplighter is how many practical skills our students learn along with a concentrated study of the Word. Bindery, printing, marketing, shipping, formatting, editing, landscaping, gardening, drywall installation, plumbing, electrical, construction, excavating, concrete, roofing…you name it and we are doing it. I, like my dad, often take people off the streets when I see them idly standing on Main Street. But no longer. They just don’t want to work.
One young man I met at an ice cream parlor looked like he had potential. He was with his girlfriend and their baby. My thoughts were that they could use the money, and we could invest in him and help him with his future. So, I asked if he was looking for work. With excitement, he exclaimed, “Yes!” But then his girlfriend spoke up and asked how much I would pay him. I said that he would start at $15 per hour, and if he worked with a persevering, diligent work ethic, he would move to $18 per hour after the first week and then $20 after two weeks. She then looked at her boyfriend and said to him, “No, you’re not working!” As it turned out, they were making more on government assistance. My heart sank. Oh that he and she could see how important it is to have a good job.
Work does so much for a person. Work brings meaning into a person’s life. From the beginning, work was one of the first blessings that God gave. That blessing now comes with a curse because of sin. But the curse is lifted when we approach work in partnership with God, IF we do not work for greedy gain. After sin entered the world, God told Adam that the ground would be “cursed” and in “sorrow” he would bring forth the fruit of the ground (Gen 3:17). With thorns and thistles, the ground would work against him. Note that the work was not cursed, but the ground. Also, the word “sorrow” in Hebrew means toil or intensive labor. Eve would bring forth children with intensive “labor” and Adam who once enjoyed pleasurable work would now face resistance, causing him to work with an intensive labor that would bring sweat on his brow. Note that man’s new approach to work was not a suggestion by God but a commandment.
Does this mean that work will no longer be pleasurable? Absolutely not! Just the opposite in fact. Now, mankind needs to approach work with an even greater intensity but must keep in mind that their labor must not be for selfish gain! That’s the key. When man partners with God, the doors are opened wide for discovery, invention, creation, and the greatest joys. Proverbs 22:29 reads: “Show me a man diligent in his work and he will stand before kings, not before mean men.” Ecclesiastes 9:10 reads: “Whatsoever thy hand finds to do, work with thy might; for no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom is in the grave, where you will eventually end.”
Recommended Reading for Hard Work Ethic: Fishmonger, Jill’s Red Bag, Phil Tyler’s Stand, Rosa of Linden Castle, Sir Malcolm and the Missing Prince audio drama, Locked Cupboard, The Lost Clue
