The Joy of Work
I have experienced the great joy of laboring in various tasks the past few weeks on my return to Missouri. Many hours have been spent in my day-to-day graphics design work, construction projects on my parent’s home, laboring in the scriptures, and various other menial tasks. The sheer range of projects that I have been tackling has sparked my interest in a study of the scriptures in regard to the work that is set before us to accomplish on this earth and the bigger purposes and ultimate joy behind it.
In Ecclesiastes we see a depiction of Solomon as he is distressed in his labors and refers to them as vanity. Yet, by the end of the book he concludes that we must take joy in our labor and give Glory to God in it. As is well known, The sentiments expressed in the book of Ecclesiastes reiterate what all men experience in regard to work, as well as many other aspects of life, at varying times. And as an aspect of the fallen nature of man, the scriptures tell us that we will undoubtedly experience toil in our labors. This is a reality that every man must come to terms with; he will always feel the burden in the toil of his labors, yet at the same time he can be content in it. That is why every man must look to the scriptures for guidance and encouragement.
Below are some of my favorite passages (I may add more to this list later) regarding our day-to-day labors as men. These scriptures continue to be a blessing to me as I learn to be diligent in my own work. I am adding these verses to my blog as a quick reference for myself and hopefully it will benefit others as well. This is also a forethought into my study of work/labor in the scriptures.
In Ecclesiastes we see a depiction of Solomon as he is distressed in his labors and refers to them as vanity. Yet, by the end of the book he concludes that we must take joy in our labor and give Glory to God in it. As is well known, The sentiments expressed in the book of Ecclesiastes reiterate what all men experience in regard to work, as well as many other aspects of life, at varying times. And as an aspect of the fallen nature of man, the scriptures tell us that we will undoubtedly experience toil in our labors. This is a reality that every man must come to terms with; he will always feel the burden in the toil of his labors, yet at the same time he can be content in it. That is why every man must look to the scriptures for guidance and encouragement.
Below are some of my favorite passages (I may add more to this list later) regarding our day-to-day labors as men. These scriptures continue to be a blessing to me as I learn to be diligent in my own work. I am adding these verses to my blog as a quick reference for myself and hopefully it will benefit others as well. This is also a forethought into my study of work/labor in the scriptures.
Exo 20:9 Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work
Psa 128:2 For thou shalt eat the labor of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee.
Pro 10:16 The labor of the righteous tendeth to life: the fruit of the wicked to sin.
Pro 13:11 Wealth gotten by vanity, shall be diminished: but he that gathereth by labor shall increase.
Pro 23:4 Labor not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom.
Psa 127:1 A Song of degrees for Solomon. Except, the LORD build the house, they labor in vain that build1129 it: except, the LORD keep8104 the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.
Pro 10:16 The labor of the righteous tendeth to life: the fruit of the wicked to sin.
Pro 13:11 Wealth gotten by vanity, shall be diminished: but he that gathereth by labor shall increase.
Pro 14:23 In all labor there is profit: but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury.
Pro 21:25 The desire of the slothful killeth him; for his hands refuse to labor.
Pro 23:4 Labor not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom.
Ecc 1:3 What profit hath a man of all his labor which he taketh, under the sun?
Ecc 2:10 And whatsoever, mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any, joy; for my heart rejoiced in all, my labor: and this was my portion of all, my labor.
Ecc 2:24 There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat, and drink, and that he should make his soul, good in his labor.This also I saw, that it was from the hand, of God.
Ecc 2:18 Yea, hated all3605 my labor which I, had taken underthe sun: because I should leave, it unto the man that shall be, after
Ecc 3:13 And also that every man should eat, and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labor, it1 is the gift of God.
Col 1:29 Whereunto, I also labor, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.
1Th 1:3 Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father;
Great verses, Mark. Indeed, each of us must labor for the glory of God. I have been thinking about this issue lately, as well, specifically in the context of life mission and calling. As I labor, what is the mission that I am to accomplish? What calling has God placed upon me in which I can use my unique giftings and talents from Him for His glory?
I hope to study the Scriptures for insights into these areas. Thank you for your thoughts, and I look forward to hearing more in the future.
Your compatriot,
CS
Posted by
C.S. Hayden |
April 27, 2005 3:37 PM
The comments "I am adding these verses to my blog as a quick reference for myself..." got me to thinking about programming, so I started a blog for myself which to my suprise only took me about 10 minutes to get established and posted.
How do you store, access, and reference research you've done.
http://inmb.blogspot.com/
Posted by
m j |
April 27, 2005 9:15 PM
Good to see you on my blog :) And good to see that you have a blog now!
I have my blog setup on my domain so I make sure I store all the info that I post, that way I am not dependent on bloggers blogspot servers. So, step one is to get away from being dependent on blogger for storing your blog. That way you’ll never run into a problem of losing your information :)
I store my quick references in blog posts and use the backend search features to access them as I need them over time. It isn’t the best system but it does the job well enough. I will often times make a draft post that only I can access and use that to reference research that I am working on.
It may not be the most sophisticated method but it works well for sharing my thoughts and making me think through the logic of my thoughts and how I can better express them to others. It is amazing how writing something out can assist in making you understand it more clearly.
I will most likely switch to something like Moveable Type at some point so I have more flexibility in how I have my blog setup and the methods I use to store and reference information, but for now time has only allowed me to use blogger, which works well enough for what I do with it currently.
I hope that helps somewhat. :)
Posted by
Mark Stubblefield |
April 27, 2005 9:39 PM
Mark, you said: "I will most likely switch to something like Moveable Type..."
I think you meant to say: "I will indeed switch to WordPress..."
Really, you would like it. I've been enjoying your blog, btw (as a lurker until now).
Seriously,
Josh
Posted by
Josh |
April 28, 2005 8:16 AM
Like what you do!
Posted by
Shannon |
April 28, 2005 4:36 PM