Value for work

WORK was born when God gave us the authority to be stewards of everything He created. God said, “Let Us make mankind in Our image, after Our likeness, and let them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, over all of the earth, and over everything that creeps upon the earth? So God created man in His own image, in the image and likeness of God He created him; male and female He created them. And God blessed them and said to them, „Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it using its vast resources in the service of God and man; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and over every living creature that moves upon the earth.”

Our position and function in our families and offices were entrusted to us by God. We are stewards of specific resources for service. We are to be fruitful, to multiply, to subdue and take dominion over these resources. The work we do is a major part of who we are, a major part of our identification hence its value is also equivalent to life.

We were not only given authority to work but also principles to work:

1. Whatever we do, work at it with all our heart, as working for the Lord and not for human

2. All hard work brings profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.

3. Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth.

4. One who is slack in his work is brother to one who destroys.

5. Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something

useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.

6. Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor.