This is one of the areas that I tend to have a lot of trouble trying to figure out…How to work hard while keeping Christ at the center.
What I mean by this is that there are times that I get so consumed with work that it starts to take the place of God’s primacy in my life. It shifts the planes of correct order and things start getting out of whack. I get stressed, anxious, overworked, and neglect the things I believe are at the heart of who God is like relationships, loving people, and spreading the Gospel.
I recently had a conversation with a friend that challenged me to stop working so hard. When I work, I tend to get so tunnel-visioned on what I’m doing that I forget about people and enjoying other aspects of life.
Work is a Good Thing
To an extent, I love working and I believe there is nothing wrong with work. Work is good and it’s part of our human experience. Even Solomon, at the end of his life, concludes that eating, drinking, and enjoying your work is a good thing and from the Lord. There are several passages throughout the old and new testament that attest to God inherently creating work as a good thing and part of his plan.
Genesis 2:15 – The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
Ecclesiastes 2:24 – A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God,
There are other verses that validate work as good, but for the sake of brevity and time, I’ll leave it at that and for you to research more on what God says about work. Heck, even God works. He created the entire universe in 6 days and rested on the 7th (regardless if it’s figuratively or literally 7 days, God worked to bring out the creation).
What God says About Diligence, Hard Work, and Laziness
God also makes it clear that working hard and diligently is part of the intended design.
Proverbs 6:6-11 — “Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest. How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.”
Proverbs 10:4 — “A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich.”
Proverbs 12:11 — “Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits lacks sense.”
Proverbs 12:24 — “The hand of the diligent will rule, while the slothful will be put to forced labor.”
Proverbs 13:4 — “The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied.”
Proverbs 14:23 — “In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty.”
Proverbs 19:15 — “Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep, and an idle person will suffer hunger.”
Proverbs 22:13 — “The sluggard says, ‘There is a lion outside! I shall be killed in the streets!’”
Proverbs 24:30-34 —“I passed by the field of a sluggard, by the vineyard of a man lacking sense, and behold, it was all overgrown with thorns; the ground was covered with nettles, and its stone wall was broken down. Then I saw and considered it; I looked and received instruction. A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.”
Ecclesiastes 9:10 — “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.”
Ephesians 4:28 — “Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.”
2 Thessalonians 3:10-11 — “For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies.”
Colossians 3:23-24 — Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ”
Now it’s easy at this point to justify work to encompass our lives. That is not so. God did not intend for us to make work the centrality of our being. The only thing that takes that place is God himself. Anything that exalts itself above the Lord becomes an idol, including work. Any good thing can be made a bad thing when it tries to take the place of Christ.
This brings me back to the main point of this post — finding the balance between God and Work. I know that’s a bit broad. Let me clarify. First and foremost, God is at the center of everything we do, no question. The challenge is, how do we not crowd out Christ working in our lives and the lives of others when we put our hands to our work?
What’s The Solution
Since we know that work is inherently good, working diligently is good, and Christ should be at the center of our lives, how do we incorporate what we know into how we work?
Work as Identity
One of the things I struggle with is identifying my external achievements with my sense of worth. I’m sure many of us deal with the same thing. We might look at other people’s achievements and feel bad about ourselves because we don’t have what they have or haven’t achieved what they’ve achieved.
When we equate our sense of self-worth with the work we do, we’ll always fall into despair when our work isn’t going well, we haven’t achieved what we’ve set out for ourselves, or we compare our results to those of others.
Even though work is good, it was never intended to reflect our own sense of self-worth. The work itself was meant for our enjoyment and the fruits of our work are just a testament to God’s goodness and His provision.
Solution: Your identity is in who God says you are and not the work that you do. You are a child of God. He knew you before you were born. He knows everything about you and he chose to have his son, Jesus Christ, die on the cross for you. You’re loved beyond human comprehension and you don’t need to do a thing to prove your worth to God. You are already enough. Your work is something you GET to do rather than HAVE to do. Enjoy the process and trust God with the outcome.
Anxiety and Stress
I know there are times that I’m overwhelmed with anxiety and stress. When I feel like things aren’t moving fast enough or I’m not getting the results that I want. At those times, I try to work even harder, beating myself up for not doing enough. I try to pick myself up by my own bootstraps, mustering the strength to move forward. I want control over all my outcomes with my own willpower. Because that’s what you do…
Until you can’t. When your body starts breaking down on you over stress and anxiety. When you realize how utterly human we are and that we can’t control the future. A farmer has no control over when the rain will come or if a tornado wipes through all their crops.
I know as humans, we try to devise ways in which we FEEL we have control over all our circumstances. That’s until a pandemic spreads across the world at an unrelenting pace or an earthquake shakes the foundations on which the earth stands, do we realize how pitifully at the mercies of external forces we are. We aren’t fully in control. We have a realm of control but there is so much more beyond our abilities. To accept that isn’t cowardly. It’s human. Accepting your limitations is not weak, it’s how we were created.
Only God is fully in control of the past, present, and future. We’re like ants that are trapped inside a glass case, with artificial items put together that form our habitat. We burrow and create tunnels, networks, and storage facilities. We plan, create, and strategize to build obelisks of safety. We glory at what we’ve created and how safe we feel. We’re masters of our own universe.
We can’t see what is beyond our control. All the while, the Creator is staring outside the glass case, amused at how we think we’re in control over everything but knowing that our lives are fully in his hands. Thankfully, our creator is a good God and cares for our well-being.
Solution: We are given areas in our lives that we have control over. In those things, we do the best that we can. The things that are out of our control, we leave with God. Stressing or having anxiety about future outcomes is an indication that we do not trust God himself OR we just don’t know enough about God’s character for us to trust Him. By studying the Word, and asking God to reveal more of his love and nature, community, and Spirit-led circumstances, you’ll come to find peace in knowing whose hands you’re truly in.
Priorities and Balance
I often say “I don’t have enough time for this or that.” Part of it is just being unstructured with my time (INFP), but the other part is, I’m just wholly unbalanced with my work and life. A large degree of that is because I want to do a lot. However, that’s just an excuse for not trusting God with my outcomes and not trusting that what God has for me is what I really want.
I’m not saying that life won’t feel unbalanced at times. Everyone’s schedule is going to change. There will be times of unbalance, but SUSTAINED unbalance without correct priorities will eventually have unintended consequences for myself and those I love.
Working hard won’t change for me. What I know I must change are my priorities and the time I allot to things.
Solution:
Keeping Christ First, Last, and in Between – Instead of rushing to do my work, my day will intentionally start with prayer, worship, and reading the Word, allowing God’s priorities and wisdom to wash over me before rushing into the frenzy of work. The goal is to not let this become a hindrance but rather allow God to lead and partner with all the work I have for that day. Throughout the day, I’ll continue to meditate on God’s word, directing the work I do, the decisions I make, how I treat others, and what my priorities are. I’ll end the day reflecting, being grateful, praying, worshiping, and reading the Word.
Structured Time – There will be times I need to work more hours than necessary. That’s fine. However, I plan to intentionally cut off working at a certain time even though I work for myself. This will be time to just relax and spend with family and friends. Easier said than done, but it’ll be a work in progress and I’ll enjoy the process instead of beating myself up if I don’t do a great job at it right away.
Community – This one is hard for me. It takes time for me to build trust and relationships. I selfishly value my time and being introverted doesn’t make it compelling to build new relationships rather than keeping existing close ones. However, God intended that we are in a community with other fellow believers. My goal is to intentionally find a new home church where I dive deeper into the community.
Summary
I’m sure there are other aspects I’m missing. This was just a thought that I had that soon spawned into a rather lengthier post than expected. But I hope that anyone dealing with overworking or trying to understand work in the context of Christianity gains something from this. Even for those that don’t overwork, I hope something triggered a thought or feeling that spurs you to find proper balance and perspective in your quest to be more Christ-like.
This post was stirred by a conversation I had with a friend and a video from Francis Chan. I suggest for my overachievers that you take a watch and see if the Lord speaks to you.