| November 15, 1998 |
Vol. I, No. 29
|
"Here is what I have seen: It is good and fitting for one to eat and drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labor in which he toils under the sun all the days of his life which God gives him; for it is his heritage. As for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, and given him power to eat of it, to receive his heritage and rejoice in his labor -- this is the gift of God. For he will not dwell unduly on the days of his life, because God keeps him busy with the joy of his heart" (Eccl. 5:18-20).
"There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. This also, I saw, was from the hand of God" (Eccl. 2:24).
"And My elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands" (Isa. 65:22).
God didn't just create man to be a working creature. He also intends for man to derive pleasure and enjoyment from his labors.
The Fruits of Labor. Let us note just a few of the ways work produces enjoyment. Man derives pleasure from his work by:
1. Knowing he is behaving in accordance with his created nature, Gen. 2:15.
2. Knowing the world can be a better place because he lived in it and was productive of good. "The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eats little or much" (Eccl. 5:12). When a man knows he has put in a productive day, he can go to bed at night with a clear conscience and a sense of self-worth.
3. Being able to say with Paul, "These hands have provided for my necessities, and for those who were with me" (Acts 20:34).
4. Knowing that not only has one earned the right to enjoy the fruits of his own labor, but he has also earned the privilege of being able to help those who are less fortunate than himself, Eph. 4:28.
5. Knowing that regardless of recognition (or lack of it) on the part of his employer and/or fellow workers, God takes note of his faithfulness and his work will not be forgotten, Rev. 14:13.
To put it another way, labor that is productive of good brings pleasure because (1) it secures the respect of any of our peers who are worth impressing, (2) it promotes self-respect, and most of all, (3) it brings the respect of God.
The Fruits of Idleness. On the other hand, the fruits of idleness are waste, want, and boredom. "I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man devoid of understanding, and there it was, all overgrown with thorns; its surface was covered with nettles; its stone wall was broken down. When I saw it, I considered it well; I looked on it and received instruction: a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest: so your poverty will come like a prowler, and your want like an armed man" (Prov. 24:30-34).
Idleness brings boredom and boredom in turn leads to a multitude of sins that rush in to fill the vacuum left by idleness. See 1 Tim. 5:17. Quite possibly it was "abundance of idleness" in ancient Sodom that paved the way for Sodom's other sins, Ezek. 16:49. It has been observed that "an idle mind is the devil's workshop."
When Work Does Not Bring Joy. It is a well-known fact that many individuals are not happy in their work. What are one's alternatives when work becomes a drudgery?
First, there is the obvious "solution" -- change jobs. There are cases, of course, where this is a very legitimate approach to the problem. People have sometimes taken jobs for which they are physically, mentally or emotionally unsuited and another line of work may well be the answer.
But often, unhappiness with one's job is a result of a poor attitude on his part toward his job. And here, the solution is not a change of jobs but a change of attitude. Try this experiment for the next four weeks: Do the very best job you can do. Be as productive on the job as you have the ability to be. Before you go to bed at night, thank God for your job. Remember that many people are out of work and would jump at the chance to have your position. As you offer thanksgiving to God, be especially mindful of the things you DO like about your work. If your relationship with your employer or with fellow employees is not what it should be, ask God to help you improve that relationship. Then, each working day, cooperate with God in answering that prayer. I'm not a prophet, nor the son of a prophet, but I predict that if you will follow these suggestions you will like your job better four weeks from now than you do now. Try it and see.
--CRJ
The national anthem of hell is "Everybody's Doing It."
God also loves murderers, thieves, and all other sinners. And indeed, the practice of homosexuality is a sin! Please consider the teachings of the Bible in the following passages, and feel free to consult other translations. We quote from the New King James version, 1979 edition.
Lev. 18:22, "You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination..."
Rom. 1:26-27, "For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due."
1 Cor. 6:9, "Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate homosexuals, nor sodomites..."
1 Tim. 1:9-10, "Knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, for sodomites..."
Yet, the PRACTICE of homosexuality is a sin. The answer to the problem is the forgiveness that comes in Christ as a result of faith, repentance (which includes ceasing to practice the sinful thing) and New Testament baptism on our part, Mark 16:16; Acts 2:36-38; Gal. 3:26-27. The homosexual can be forgiven by quitting the practice of homosexuality, and obeying the will of God as revealed in the Scriptures. True, such will demand quite a bit of self-discipline, but even here, the Lord has promised to help, 1 Cor. 10:13.
--CRJ
In Matt. 7:13-14, Jesus said, "Enter by the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it." This passage underscores our free moral agency -- our freedom to choose. If it were entirely up to God, we would all be saved, 2 Pet. 3:9. He gave us the power of choice, and many of us choose unwisely.
Let us note some of the reasons that few choose the path that leads to life, while many choose the path that ultimately brings destruction. First, as Jesus suggested, and as most of us already know, it is easier to be wrong than to be right. The path to life requires that we exercise self control, that we recognize restrictions and limitations. The path to destruction is broad enough to allow us to do anything and everything that pleases us, whether or not it is good for us now or eternally.
Secondly, there are many who seek the path of right thinking and right living, but have been misled. Some think they will be saved by faith alone, so they never progress beyond the point of merely believing a few facts about Jesus. The Bible teaches that the faith that avails is a faith which works through love, Gal. 5:6. In Hebrews 11, the Hebrew writer underscores this kind of faith by telling us how faith produced actions that pleased God in the lives of such individuals as Abel, Noah, Abraham, Moses and other Old Testament heroes. None of these great persons found the path of righteousness by stopping at the point of belief, but they found fellowship with God as their faith led them to obediently serve God. James further confirms this in James 2:19-26, summing up by saying that "as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also."
To the contrary, there are some who miss the way that leads to life because they get caught up in works of human origin, or works of Moses' law, by which Paul tells us "no flesh will be justified in God's sight" (Rom. 3:20). Whereas works of faithful obedience to Christ's will DO have a part in our right thinking and right living, works of the Law of Moses and works of the doctrines of men are definitely excluded, Matt. 15:9; Rom. 3:28.
Finally, a great number of individuals intend to seek God later in life, but postpone their study and obedience of the Scriptures to some future time. Some harbor the false hope of being given a second chance after death. Such individuals need to be admonished by the apostle Paul, "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation" (2 Cor. 6:2).
--CRJ