Have you ever sat back and had a vision of heaven? I’m sure you have! I know, in my youth, it looked like a paradise of lounging, eating, laughing and most importantly… NO WORK/SCHOOL!

As awesome as we might think this is, I believe scripture tells us that we are created to work. After all, are we not created in the image of God? Our God is a God of work. I used to believe when I was younger that Adam and Eve had it made. They got to lounge around an epic garden, feasting on the very best fruit, frolicking with animals of all kinds… paradise! However, God set Adam to a task. It was such a grand task that the Lord looked on him and said that it was not good for him to be alone and he needed help and God created woman.

Genesis 2:15
The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

Genesis 2:18-20
18.) The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
19.) Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20.) So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals. But for Adam no suitable helper was found.

God gave Adam a serious work load! So much that God looked and saw he needed help! You see, I believe we need to change our outlook on work. Yes, because of our sin the Lord cursed the ground which brought us to labor excessively. The ground will not easily give up its rewards, instead we must toil “by the sweat of our brow” to reap them. One day, though, when we are united with our Lord and He redeems the earth, our work will once again reap the rewards abundantly.

Remind yourself of those times when your hard work has been rewarded. Maybe it is something you created, maybe it is an accomplishment… but a time where you can look and be satisfied in the work you did. Heck, maybe it was eating right and losing a bunch of weight… hard work doesn’t only reap a great tangible benefit, it is inline with what the Creator designed for us!

So we must not labor in vain. If we labor to only “get through”, than we ARE laboring in vain. In this new year, let’s work. Let’s work as unto the Lord KNOWING that one day the ground will produce without hardship because we will be reunited with the One who worked to create us.

Soli Deo Gloria

Jesse Horne