Work is Work

I think one of the greatest lies ever told is that work is supposed to be something other than what it fundamentally is – work. As Christians, we sometimes forget what God promised after the Fall in the Garden of Eden.


Eve learned quickly that rearing children is hard work, right from the start. God intended this, and so it has been ever since. Ask any mom who loves her children (sadly, some don’t – it hurts me to even type that), and she will tell you the curse is real, kids are a pain right from the start. It takes real work to raise a child well. It is a tireless, often thankless job; but, who, pray tell, is going to raise a child if the mom, for starters, isn’t wholly invested? Do we really want to suppose that this decrepit world will do a good job of it?


Raising a child is hard work. Agreed? The most difficult aspect of parenting stems from the uniqueness of it. There are no do-overs like there are when you build a fence and then knock it down once you realize it’s crooked. The best way to raise a child is to work hard at it and pray they receive your instruction.


I’ve never met a good parent who said raising children is easy. If I ever did, am I to suppose they are somehow immune to God’s curse? Or would another conclusion be more appropriate? I’ll let you decide.

Adam was also cursed at the Fall in the Garden. God said, “in pain you shall eat of [the earth] all the days of your life” and “by the sweat of your face you shall eat bread” (Genesis 3:17,19). It seems God intended work to be a painful experience.

Let that sink in.

If work is designed by our Creator to be painful, then why would we ever lie to ourselves, fill schools and colleges with pipe dreams, and even teach our own children that it is supposed to be something else? Why would we ever set ourselves up for disappointment that way?

Disappointment is nothing more than failed expectations. How many disenchanted workers do you know? I know a lot. It’s a plague that doesn’t need to exist. A simple change in perspective is the remedy. Once a person accepts that work is work, then they are no longer disappointed with the endeavor. They might even begin to enjoy the idea of being productive to the benefit of themselves and their families; and for believers, to the glory of God.


I think too many people, dare I say the majority, are miserable because they have ungodly expectations about work. They hear so-called thought leaders say, “Find your passion and you’ll know what you ought to do for a career!” What they don’t tell you is that every job, whether it’s rearing children in the home or working for money, is work…and work was designed by God to be painful. Some might argue that the best job is the one you’d work at even if you weren’t getting paid. Well, guess what, that’s called a hobby, and if you really weren’t getting paid, you’d still have to go find a real job that brought in some income! As a side note, statistically, people enjoy doing something less once there’s income tied to it (ala once they convert their hobby into a job). I guess God has designed that into us so that there’s really no escape.

Work is work. Expect nothing more or less and you’ll be a lot better off for it.

Love in Christ,

Ed Collins