Work is divine. Said the Lord Jesus, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working” (John 5:17). As soon as man and woman were created they were put to work. “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it” (Gen. 2:15). The “curse” is not man’s daily toil, as so many people complain. It never was. From the beginning, regardless of man’s fallen state, the apostle’s “rule” has been true: “If a man will not work, he shall not eat” (II Thess. 3:10).
Laziness is condemned repeatedly in the book of Proverbs as utterly unworthy of the godly person, and diligent work is a virtue and a blessing (Prov. 24:30-34, 25:13-14, 27:22-27 and many other passages). The ground was
cursed, yes, but man’s daily or nightly labours should be a challenge and a source of pleasure.
A wonderful example
Jacob left us a wonderful example as a cheerful worker in conditions that today would be considered sheer exploitation by the ILO or any trade union. Just read Genesis 31:38-42 and admire his loyalty to a disgustingly mean boss.
The Psalmist considered a long, hard working day as normal and a routine for which to give God thanks: “Man goes out to his work, to his labour until evening. Praise the Lord, 0 my soul. Praise the Lord” (Psa. 104:23, 35).
The night shift — called the graveyard shift in the Caribbean — is mentioned approvingly in I Chronicles 9:26-27: “The four principal gatekeepers, who were Levites, were entrusted with the responsibility for the rooms and treasuries in the house of God. They would spend the night stationed around the house of God, because they had to guard it; and they had charge of the key for opening it each morning.” Several Caribbean brethren who have only been able to find a job as a night watchman have appreciated that exhortation.
A model to follow
The apostle Paul worked as a tentmaker “night and day, labouring and toiling.” He gives the reason for such effort and sacrifice: “We did this… in order to make ourselves a model for you to follow” (II Thess. 3:8,9).
The modern humanist concept that daily temporal manual employment is somehow degrading, that work to be acceptable must be soft, and that goldenagers have a right to a leisured retirement is not biblical at all. Caleb had a very different outlook: “So here I am today, eighty-five years old.. .strong and vigorous” and off he went to work on his promised inheritance (Josh. 14:10-11). Retirement with a pension is a modern notion which has enabled many senior brethren and sisters to spend vigorous eventide years in ecclesial activities, including missionary fields worldwide. We can thank God for those precious and privileged opportunities. But there are many brothers and sisters in the Caribbean and other poor countries for whom retirement is just not an option. They have an invalid spouse or relative to care for, or they are widowed, or simply poor, and such believers just have to work until they drop. There is nothing grievous or wrong about this. The late Bro. Charlie Lamb joyfully worked long hours on his little farm at Epping Forest at the age of 95 to provide for his daily needs. This was a stark contrast to another brother we knew in a much richer country who told us that he could hardly wait for his retirement so he would “be free to enjoy himself.” He died, perhaps of boredom, not long afterwards.
Working women
Sisters in the Bible were working women. The Victorian notion of the sit-at-home wife was unknown. In the Caribbean, there are many more women in the labour force than men. Our sisters, like the virtuous woman of Proverbs 31, take great pleasure in their daily work, and radiate sheer joy in the doing of it. Brethren who have visited the Caribbean will recall wonderful elderly working sisters such as Mellie James and Wilhelmina Wallace. Sis. Wallace, until she was virtually incapable of movement, used to scour the countryside for wild castor oil plants, collect the pods, return home at sunset, then set about boiling out the essence, bottle it, and then higgle (vend) it on the sidewalk as hair oil. One of my memories as a young Christadelphian was to ride a ram-packed JOS bus in Kingston with Sis. Dorothy Isaacs as conductor and her husband Roland as driver. She smiled, she sang, she joked, she encouraged us hot, tired and feeble-hearted passengers with words of godly cheer. Her example has remained to inspire me ever since.
Every temporal job is a privilege, not a curse. One brother who came to the Caribbean for a time used to urge us young ones to resist the “temptations” of higher education and just seek a job “in the world” with maximum pay for minimum work. He used to recommend school teaching, but I never imagined why! In this way we could have “plenty of time for the truth.” At the time, and ever since, we believe such advice is very misguided. Of course, if we only get an education so as to get a high paying job and then use our income for selfish, material purposes, we will not be blessed by Almighty God (1 Tim. 6:9). The Bible, however, never suggests that the brother or sister who has to work very long hours to keep himself, his family and others in need, is in any way a lesser steward of the grace of God or a less worthy servant of the Lord than a full time missionary or “worker for the truth.” Indeed the latter could not exist without the former.
Witness of faith
Over many years, those with time to engage in meetings and other traditional ecclesial activities have been thought of as the pillars of the truth. But the real work of the truth has often been the quiet, steadfast and often magnificent witness of faith made by many whose whole life has been devoted to the daily struggle for survival in conditions like Jacob’s. There have been many such Caribbean Christadelphians, unknown to and unappreciated by visitors, much like slaves in the first century ecclesias. Let us appreciate all such and honor them. They shine as “lights in the world” (Phil. 2:15).
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One