And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God. Ecclesiastes 3:13 (New Living Translation, NLT)

Work is from God. Yes, I know that sounds radical to some, but God has ordained from the beginning that man should work. He placed Adam in the garden to keep it, meaning he was to work in it. Even God Himself works.

And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. Genesis 2:2 (KJV)

If God works, there is no reason we shouldn’t work. Work is supposed to be a blessing. We are to enjoy what we do, and we should be joyful when we see the results of our work.

I know some of you may be rolling your eyes right now and thinking, “Janean, you haven’t seen where I work!” I understand. I am not in fulltime ministry; I still work in the “secular” world. I understand stress. I understand the feeling of not being respected or not being paid enough for how hard you work. I get it. And so does God. He never intended for work to be that way. It was to be something we enjoyed and got satisfaction from. When man fell, work turned into toil. It became harsh and difficult. Adam had to work hard and toil by sweat of his brow to make the ground yield a harvest. But, our work doesn’t have to be that way.

We live in a fallen world. Yes, the values of people are not what they should be, and people allow greed and hunger for power to drive them. They, in turn, drive others to produce more and more. Not all business leaders and managers are bad, but the nature of the work world is affected by greed. However, we are to be in the world but not of it. Christians who are bosses are to be reasonable and treat those who report to them with respect and decency. As Christian business owners and supervisors, we should be a model to the world of how things should be done.

Those of us who are not supervisors or owners may have to work for unreasonable people. However, we have to remember two things: 1) We work for the Lord, and 2) We can be joyful in any situation.

Because we are to do our work as unto the Lord, or as if the Lord is our supervisor (which He is), we must do our best work. Work with a spirit of excellence. We are give our best to our work and we are to do what is right, even when we are treated wrongly. God sees our every move, and we need to be mindful that the Lord is the One we really work for. We arrive on time, do an honest day’s work, resist complaining, and help our fellow workers when we can. When we do this, our light shines for all men to see, and God gets glorified.

Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good deeds and moral excellence, and [recognize and honor and] glorify your Father who is in heaven. Matthew 5:16 (Amplified Bible, AMP)

And we can be joyful in any situation. Our outward circumstances are not to determine how we feel and how we act. Yes, most of us may be mistreated in some way in the workplace. But, we cannot allow that to get in us. We can focus on the Lord and know that He sees how hard we work. We can remind ourselves that He is pleased with us and that we are storing up rewards just by doing a good job. Spending time in the Word and in prayer every day can help us to remain peaceful and joyful no matter what the day brings. It takes a purposeful effort to do it, but we can choose joy in every moment of the day. The more we do it, the easier it will become.

Today is Labor Day in the United States. It is a day to honor those who work and keep our country going. No matter how easy it can be to become disillusioned with work and with your situation, remember that work does come from God. He will help us to enjoy it if we bring Him into our daily lives.