We’re in the middle of a message series called, “God’s Remedy For Stress.” We’ve talked about how God wants us to slow down the pace of our lives so we can really live the way He wants us to. We’ve talked about building margin into our lives, so we have some reserves when inevitable problems come our way. Last week we talked about remembering that loving relationships are what should matter most in our life, relationships with people and a relationship with God.
Today, we want to focus on our work, what we do to make a living, what we do to put food on the table, clothes on our backs and a roof over our head. Some people think of work as a four letter word that they want to avoid at all costs. Others are head over heels in love with their work, they would rather work then do anything else. Either of those two extremes will lead to great problems in your life.
Where did work come from in the first place? Well, God invented work and it is a good thing. In the very first book of the Bible, Genesis, God worked to create the world for 6 days and then He rested on the seventh. One of the very first things that He did after He created people was to give them work to do. NLT Genesis 2:15 The LORD God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and care for it. Even in paradise, there was work to do, a garden to be tended and cared for.
God gave a warning concerning that workplace. There was a certain tree that they should not eat from. There were dangers in work as well as blessing. Then Adam and Eve disregarded God’s warning and ate the forbidden fruit. One of the results was that man’s work now became difficult, it became a struggle to survive.
One of the reasons for stress, one of the reasons for a lifestyle that is too fast paced is overwork, when we work too hard, too long and too fast. There is danger in overwork because our work life must be in balance with the rest of our lives. Work must be kept in balance with our relationships with people and with our relationship with God.
To hear more about this topic, listen to my October 2, 2005 message entitled Keeping Work In Balance