“It was never intended that man should lead an idle or inactive life. Employment would in innocence have been as necessary to his happiness, as it is now to the human race.” Archibald Alexander

Lots of people imagine that they would be happy if they didn’t have to work. Indeed, to be idle would be paradise.

However, there was once a paradise, and part of the paradise was work. When God created the first man and woman, He put them in a perfect workplace, and gave them perfect work. Without work, paradise would not have been paradise.

Hard Work

Sure, with the entrance of sin, paradise is no more, and work is now much harder. Thorns and thistles, blood and sweat, are now part of daily work. However, the answer is not to avoid work, be lazy at work, or try to retire from work as early as possible.

Work is still a necessary part of our happiness. (It doesn’t have to be paid work, of course). God has so made us that work is part of our being, part of our humanity, part of our satisfaction, part of our joy. As we are able, we need to be active, to be constructive, to be creative, and to be productive if we are to be happy.

Dangerous See-Saw

Of course, we must not fall off the other side of the see-saw either–making work our only happiness and trying to get all our joy from it–that’s when work becomes an idol that can never satisfy.

But when we do our work as from the Lord, with the Lord, and to the Lord, then we are fulfilling the purpose for which we were created and God will bless us with happiness in and from our work.

“Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.” (Genesis 2:15)