Learning How to Work Hard and Enjoy It!

In honor of the previous Labor Day, I taught this lesson in my Southern Charm teen girl’s Sunday School class. So, this would be a good topic for children and teenagers to study, but this lesson was a much needed study for myself as well.

When Dan and I were first married, I took pride in the fact that I was a hard worker, and I would tell him so. I come from a family of very hard workers and I married into a family with a strong work ethic of which I am very thankful. After being married to my husband for just a little while, I realized he had the energy to outwork me by a landslide. He very gently and sweetly taught me that being a hard worker does not only mean working hard at the things you enjoy in life, but learning how to work hard even in the areas of life you do not enjoy as much. Many times I joke with Dan that I believe one of his many talents is working hard.

A hard worker takes everything in his hand and reach, and tries to find a way to make it fruitful. 

Learning how to enjoy even the unpleasant tasks in life sometimes is a hard lesson to learn. Learning how to be faithful to work even when you do not feel like working or you are tired is a lesson needed to be learned. There is also a rest for the people of God that Hebrews mentions that we should even labor to rest, which is another topic for another day. (Hebrews 3, 4)

We do not become a Christian by our good works. On the contrary, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6) Although, after we choose to trust in Jesus to take us to Heaven when we die, we are ambassadors for Him for His work.

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

Not of works lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,

which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:8-10)

 

 

So, not only were we created to work, we are to learn to work hard. A lesson from the wisest and richest man to live- he said, “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might;” (Ecclesiastes 9:10a) My mother taught me this verse when she taught me how to clean toilets. She re-inspected my toilet I thought I had cleaned, and when I had just cleaned the top and inside the toilet she kindly quoted this verse to me as she taught me how to clean the bottom of the toilet too. I will never forget this lesson from my Godly mother.

We are to work hard, but we are also supposed to enjoy working hard because hard work produces something. “In all labour there is profit:” (Proverbs 14:23a)

 

“And also that every man should eat and drink,

and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God.”

(Ecclesiastes 3:13)

 

 

Here are a few ways that you can enjoy and receive the greatest benefits of your labor:

1. Remember that every work you do produces some sort of profit. [Work = Profit]
2. Learn how to enjoy waking up early in the morning. “…the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning;” (Psalms 49:14) There is no secret time that you should get up in the mornings. Everyone has a different time that works for them depending on the time they go to bed at night. Only you know what time you need to get up in the morning in order to have a fruitful day.
3. Understand that having a hard work ethic will even save you from the trials of life. When God finally answers Job in his trials out of the whirlwind He declares, “Then will I confess unto thee that thine own right hand can save thee.” (Job 40:14) *When you become depressed and face hard times the last thing you want to do sometimes is face people and work, but continuing on in your trials can be the healing that you need.
4. Find a way to create beauty everywhere you go. “Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children. And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.” (Psalms 90:16-17) God is a God of beauty. He made the sun to rise and the sun to set to show the most beautiful artwork displayed across the sky. He made the tall mountains that peek their way through the clouds. He made the flowers in so many variety of colors and shapes. He created man and woman who were “fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works;” (Psalms 139:14) Not only should we work hard, but we should strive to make all of our work beautiful. “He hath made every thing beautiful in his time:” [Speaking of God’s work (Ecclesiastes 3:11)] *We must continue working even when we do not see the profit or the beauty right away.
   

   WORKING WHEN WE CANNOT SEE THE PROFIT OR THE BEAUTY= FAITH

5. Learn how to take care of yourself. “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper, and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.” (III John 2) This man of God desired that just as these people he ministered to should have spiritual health, they should also prosper and be in physical health. I have always heard the acrostic Jesus Others Yourself, and while I agree with this acrostic to have joy, if you are not in good health it is much harder to nurture your relationship with Jesus and others. I am not saying it is impossible, but it makes it harder. This is why the Scriptures say that we should remember the Creator in the days of our youth. The older we get in life the harder it is to have the energy to work like we used to be able to work. One January, I came down with the flu and could not get out of bed for nearly a week. I was so sick! My yearly tradition is normally to read my Bible through in a year. When I had the flu, I could not even open my eyes and definitely could not read my Bible. So, we should do our best to be a good steward of the bodies that God gave us and nurture our health. I am not saying when you are sick it is your fault, but I am saying when you are sick or do not have energy it makes it very hard to devote time and energy to Jesus, your family, and others.

I will soon write a post giving some ideas on how we can take care of ourselves. Taking care of your physical body can give you the strength you need to take care of your Spiritual man. I hope this Bible study will motivate you in your work as it did me. We all have a work to do, some widely different than others. I hope you will work to succeed in the work that God has placed upon your heart. “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” (Galatians 6:9)

 

Love,

Jackie