Genesis 2:1-3
Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.
By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
Can you remember your first job? I don’t mean the first job after college, I mean the very first the first job for which you were paid? Was it babysitting? Raking leaves? Shoveling snow?
When I was 8 years old I had a hand-me-down 20 inch red bicycle. I loved that bike! The bike came with the responsibility to put it in the garage every night at dinner time. One evening, after riding around and playing with my friends, I hurried home and left it in our front yard, forgetting to put it away in the garage.
The next day my bike was gone! Evidently, during the night someone had stolen my little hand-me-down 20 inch bike right out of our tiny yard on 23rd street in Akron, Ohio.
Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.
By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
Can you remember your first job? I don’t mean the first job after college, I mean the very first the first job for which you were paid? Was it babysitting? Raking leaves? Shoveling snow?
When I was 8 years old I had a hand-me-down 20 inch red bicycle. I loved that bike! The bike came with the responsibility to put it in the garage every night at dinner time. One evening, after riding around and playing with my friends, I hurried home and left it in our front yard, forgetting to put it away in the garage.
The next day my bike was gone! Evidently, during the night someone had stolen my little hand-me-down 20 inch bike right out of our tiny yard on 23rd street in Akron, Ohio.
My first thought was, “What kind of person steals a kid’s bike?” It was the first time it dawned on me that the world is not a safe place.
My second thought was, “I’m in big trouble.” I knew it was my responsibility to put my bike away and I had failed to do so and now my bike was gone.
My Dad told me I could get a new bike but that I would have to earn the money myself. He offered me a job: he said I could mow the grass for $1 each time.
Now our yard was pretty small, but we didn’t have a power mower. We had one of those old rotary push mowers with the blades that turned as the wheels turned. Remember those? My Dad evidently thought that, at 8 years old, I was big enough to push that mower around our little yard and earn the money for a new bike. I thought so too.
So I looked in the Sears catalogue and found a bike that I wanted; it was a 26 incher with a head-light powered by a generator attached to the wheel. I thought that was awesome! I would have the coolest bike on the block; but the price tag was the astronomical sum of $56.
So I mowed.
My second thought was, “I’m in big trouble.” I knew it was my responsibility to put my bike away and I had failed to do so and now my bike was gone.
My Dad told me I could get a new bike but that I would have to earn the money myself. He offered me a job: he said I could mow the grass for $1 each time.
Now our yard was pretty small, but we didn’t have a power mower. We had one of those old rotary push mowers with the blades that turned as the wheels turned. Remember those? My Dad evidently thought that, at 8 years old, I was big enough to push that mower around our little yard and earn the money for a new bike. I thought so too.
So I looked in the Sears catalogue and found a bike that I wanted; it was a 26 incher with a head-light powered by a generator attached to the wheel. I thought that was awesome! I would have the coolest bike on the block; but the price tag was the astronomical sum of $56.
So I mowed.
My mom says the first day I mowed I came in with blisters hanging from my hands. But I wanted that bike!
That job didn’t feel much like a gift, but it was. I eventually saved up enough cash to buy my new bike, but the real gift was learning the value of hard work.
Listen to how the Bible describes the work of God himself.
By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
God’s work was creating. The ancient Hebrew words used to describe God’s work point to a master craftsman doing the finest kind of work. When God finished his work it was complete and perfect. (Note: it is both interesting and significant that Jesus cried out, “It is finished” from the cross as he completed the work of our salvation!)
Now look at how the Bible describes our work:
Genesis 1:26-27
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
That job didn’t feel much like a gift, but it was. I eventually saved up enough cash to buy my new bike, but the real gift was learning the value of hard work.
Listen to how the Bible describes the work of God himself.
By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
God’s work was creating. The ancient Hebrew words used to describe God’s work point to a master craftsman doing the finest kind of work. When God finished his work it was complete and perfect. (Note: it is both interesting and significant that Jesus cried out, “It is finished” from the cross as he completed the work of our salvation!)
Now look at how the Bible describes our work:
Genesis 1:26-27
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
Genesis 2:15
The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
The Bible teaches that human beings, and only human beings, are created in the “image of God.” This phrase is chock-full of meaning! It means, among many other things, that human beings are created with unique capacities among all the creatures of the earth, and that we are created for a unique kind of relationship with God.
Human beings are created with unique intelligence; with a unique capacity to worship; with a unique capacity to love; with the unique capacity to create; with the unique capacity for free will; and with the unique capacity to work.
Notice that work was part of God’s creation right from the beginning. He created, designed and purposed human beings to work as a way of sharing in his management of the earth and it’s resources.
Genesis 2:15
The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
The Bible teaches that human beings, and only human beings, are created in the “image of God.” This phrase is chock-full of meaning! It means, among many other things, that human beings are created with unique capacities among all the creatures of the earth, and that we are created for a unique kind of relationship with God.
Human beings are created with unique intelligence; with a unique capacity to worship; with a unique capacity to love; with the unique capacity to create; with the unique capacity for free will; and with the unique capacity to work.
Notice that work was part of God’s creation right from the beginning. He created, designed and purposed human beings to work as a way of sharing in his management of the earth and it’s resources.
All that to say that when we work, whether that work is commuting to an office in the city, sitting in front of a computer all day, or doing 4 loads of laundry and changing dirty diapers, we are expressing the very image of God and fulfilling part of his purpose for creation.
When I go out to mow my lawn these days, I sometimes think about that rotary mower and my new bike; but I also realize, at a deeper level, that I was created to work and that there is joy in all work well done.
Pastor Brian Coffey
When I go out to mow my lawn these days, I sometimes think about that rotary mower and my new bike; but I also realize, at a deeper level, that I was created to work and that there is joy in all work well done.
Pastor Brian Coffey
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