Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Busyness”
Our Bible verse for today: “The one who works his land will have plenty of food, but whoever chases fantasies lacks sense.” Proverbs 12:11 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “You should work hard and well.”
As I write this it is Monday morning and most of us are beginning a new work week. As we continue thinking about the issue of “busyness” we can easily be tempted to think that our job is a problem and a major source of our busyness. In many cases that could be true, and we will talk about it more in a moment, but a job is actually a good thing and it is a blessing from God.
It has always been God’s intention that we would work in order to provide for ourselves and for our families. It began with Adam in the Garden of Eden. We read in Genesis 2:15, “The Lord God took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden to work it and watch over it.” Then throughout scripture productive work is always portrayed as a good thing – Proverbs 12:11 being just one example.
So the problem isn’t having a job, the problem is when the job becomes too important to you and you give it too much of your time and attention; or when your employer begins making unreasonable demands upon your time. That’s when a good thing begins to become a bad thing because it causes the rest of your life to get out of balance. That then creates new problems.
I’ve written in previous devotional messages about a syndrome the Japanese call “Karoshi”. “Karoshi” is a Japanese word that means “death from overwork” and it’s becoming more and more of a problem in Japanese society. Japanese culture creates a lot of pressure to be seen as successful, and there is such a strong desire among the Japanese people to earn lots of money in order to acquire lots of consumer goods, that men and women allow their lives to be defined by, and consumed by, their jobs. They end up working long hours under tremendous pressure to meet unrealistic expectations. They eat fast food on the run, get little exercise, they don’t get enough sleep, they use too much alcohol, smoke too many cigarettes, battle relentless traffic, and ignore their families.
As a result they end up with high blood pressure, lung cancer, and a wide range of other degenerative diseases. The suicide rater in Japan is very high and it is increasing. They’re killing themselves by overworking.
It is true that you should have a job and you should work hard and well. But don’t kill yourself doing it. Keep your work in its proper place. Don’t allow your job to define, monopolize, or consume the rest of your life.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 