Happy Labor Day! If your employer gave you the day off, enjoy it! Perhaps you’ll grill out, play yard games, or something else that helps you enjoy rest and recreation. Some of you are reading this after you finished studying for a test or getting off a work shift. I understand that Labor Day isn’t a guaranteed day off for everyone. Whatever your situation, almost everyone shares this in common: the majority of our time is given to something that pays the bills or is preparing us to one day pay the bills. As Christians we are called to carefully navigate life in a broken world with wisdom (see Ephesians 5:15). How do we balance the tension in our culture of work and rest? Let’s look briefly at God’s good design, where we get it wrong, how Jesus makes it right, and how we can move forward in a better way.
God made everything good.
Work and rest find their origin in God. He perfectly modeled and designed them for our good and his glory (Genesis 2:2). He set apart a day of rest as holy so that we would follow suit (Genesis 2:3). He assigned us work before sin ever entered the world (see Genesis 2:15). Like breathing in and breathing out, rest and work are meant to go hand and hand for God’s glory and the good of human flourishing.
Sin messed everything up.
Everything good that God made was fractured when we rebelled against Him in the garden (see Genesis 3). This is why some people live for the weekend and others seem to snack on work even when they should be resting.
Almost half of Americans won’t use all their paid vacation time this year (that’s right, paid vacation). One main reason for this, I would argue, is that work is where they find their meaning. Instead of using work as an act of worship like God commanded (see Colossians 3:23), people worship their work.
Workaholism isn’t our only problem. Many live under the bondage of slothfulness. Instead of pursuing meaningful work, they have lost all motivation to work. While there are many who desire a good job where they can work hard, there are many who have lost the desire to work altogether. Instead of resting as an act of worship like God commanded (see Exodus 20:8-10), people worship rest.
Jesus is making all things right again.
While the effects of sin have tainted everything and we can see it in varying degrees in our culture and in our own lives, we can take heart that Jesus is making all things new (see Revelation 21:5). He is our example. Jesus worked hard. He said that it was his food to do God’s will and accomplish the work set out for him (see John 4:34). Jesus also rested well. When other people freaked out in the middle of a storm, Jesus took a nap (see Matthew 8:23-27). More than our example, He’s our Savior. At the end of His earthly ministry He died on the cross, not just to cancel our sin debt, but to credit our account with His righteousness. He took all our bad and he gave us all of His good. He rose from the dead, ascended to heaven, sat down next to His Father, and rested from the work he accomplished for our salvation.
How do we move forward?
Now we get to rest in the finished work of Christ. Our joy and purpose isn’t found in vacation and it isn’t in our jobs either. Our identity is in Christ. We work from our rest in Christ, not for it. So:
- Work hard, not because other people see you but because God does.
- Work hard, not to be validated by others but to love and serve others.
- Rest well, not because you’ve earned it, but because God gives good gifts.
- Rest well. Your job doesn’t give you ultimate meaning, God does.
Maybe you need to take that vacation, or dust off that yard game. Maybe you need to roll up your sleeves and work harder. Let’s enjoy the good gifts of work and rest but find the fullness of our joy in God’s greatest gift: Jesus the Christ.