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I’ve been doing a lot of study on the book of Proverbs lately. I’ve been reading written sermons, commentaries, devotionals, and pretty much anything related to the book of Proverbs I could get my hands on. Some of Tremper Longman III’s stuff has been the best material on this, though I also quite like Ryan P’ODowd’s commentary on Proverbs as part of “The Story Of God” conmentary series.

Proverbs has a lot to say about laziness and the value of hard work. For example, Proverbs 6:6-11 says “Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest. How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest— and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.” (NIV) Proverbs 10:4 says “Lazy hands make for poverty,
but diligent hands bring wealth.” (NIV) Proverbs 14:23 says “All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.” (NIV) Proverbs 15:19 says “The way of the sluggard is blocked with thorns, but the path of the upright is a highway.” (NIV).

King Solomon ^[1]According to most of the commentators have read thus far, the authorship and compilation of the book of Proverbs is a bit tricky. These are Proverbs, and as Tremper Longmann III writes in his … Continue reading seems to place a lot of value on working hard. He and the other sages scorn laziness and even outright make fun of lazy people at times with humorous imagery. One of my favorites is a cluster of proverbs found in 26:13-16 which says “A sluggard says, ‘There’s a lion in the road, a fierce lion roaming the streets!’ As a door turns on its hinges, so a sluggard turns on his bed. A sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he is too lazy to bring it back to his mouth. A sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven people who answer discreetly.” (NIV) The imagery here is funny. The sluggard is so lazy he makes up the excuse that if he goes outside, he’ll be killed by a lion. And he’s so lazy, he can’t even feed himself! He puts his hand in the dish and it just stays there!

Many of us know the value of hard work. But it can be easy to see one’s job as a necessary evil. Many of us either hate working or just don’t find what we do meaningful. The latter actually want to contribute to society but we don’t feel like where they are right now is actually doing anything. We might feel like we’re grinding in a video game, just doing meaningless repetitive tasks to farm money or other things we need to actually complete our true quests. ^[2]I am influenced here by the work of Nick Peters of Deeper Waters for the video game analogy of living life like a game we’re trying to win. He is currently doing his PH.D on video games and why … Continue reading That was me; a Dollar General cashier who just grinded most days of my week. Day in and day out, I’d show up to work, ring people up, do my NPC customer service dialogue over and over and over until it was time to go home. I often felt like I was wasting my time. I didn’t have to be there. Anyone could do what I was doing. It’s not like I was saving lives like doctors, or stopping bad guys like police officers, or helping people heal from past hurts like psychiatrists. I was just putting things on a shelf or in a bag. I was miserable a lot of the time. I just wanted to get my GED, go off to Seminary, and become a biblical scholar so I could FINALLY get paid to do something meaningful. A vocational ministry would certainly be meaningful, and in an eternal sense.

However, near the end of the summer I read “Living Well: God’s Wisdom From The Book Of Proverbs” by Allen Moseley. What Moseley said is very common sensical, and yet it got me down a thought process that totally changed my outlook.

“Think about this: your work is meaningful and providential because God put you where you work. Okay, I know. Some of you are thinking, ‘Well, Allan, maybe God called you to your work—you’re a writer, a seminary professor, and a preacher.’—but I don’t believe God had much to do with my job. I’m working there because it was the best job I could get at the time, and I continue to work there so that my family can eat.’ A lot of people would like to be in a job where they believe that God called them, but they just don’t see that it has ever happened. This may surprise you, but God may have placed you where you are, and you may not be aware of it. Proverbs 16:9 says, ‘The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.'” ^[3]Allen Mosley, “Living Well: God’s Wisdom From The Book Of Proverbs”, Lexham Press, page 159.

“A teenager who was working at a fast-food restaurant once told me that he couldn’t wait to quit his job. I asked him, ‘Why?’ He said, ‘I want to do something that’s at least a little important, and let’s face it, flipping burgers is not an important job.’ I told him that I disagreed, and he asked me why. I said, ‘Don’t people have to eat?’ He said, ‘Yes.’ I asked him, ‘Do you think God wants people to have food to eat?’ He said, ‘Yes.’ I said, ‘Well, since it’s the will of God for people to eat, you’re doing the will of God to get food to the people God created and loves. Farmers grew and harvested the food, so they were God’s instruments to provide food for people. Truck drivers transported the food. God used them to get the food to the restaurants. Somebody has to cook the food and sell it to the people, and that’s you. You’re working with God to care for his creation, and that’s noble work.’ Thinking about flipping burgers as noble work may be countercultural, but it is absolutely biblical, and it’s part of living well.” ^[4]Allan Moseley, “Living Well: God’s Wisdom From The Book Of Proverbs”, Lexham Press, Page 162.

Mosley was talking to a teenager who was working at a fast food restaurant, but as I read these words, I felt like he might as well have been speaking to me. And moreover, I know for a fact that God was speaking to me through him. It is God’s will for man to eat, especially if he’s worked for the money he has used to buy his food (2 Thessalonians 3:10). A good amount of the stuff I ring up are food products. Dollar General has a large selection of goods. There’s a whole section called “Food quad” where I am mostly situated for stocking and fronting. My customers can eat because there’s food on the shelves. There’s food on the shelves because I and my co-workers put it there. They can purchase it because I am their cashier. We did have a self check out, but no more. ^[5]See the article “Dollar General is rolling back self-checkout in thousands of stores” by Nathaniel Meyerson, March 14th 2024, CNN. — … Continue reading However, even if we did have one, most people prefer to have a real flesh and blood person ring them up anyway.

This last Christmas season, I had a bit more pep in my step. I observed the kinds of items I rang up and saw just how many toys and gift bags and Christmas candy I rang up. Some of the customers were slightly short with me (though oddly less so than the past 2 years), but I overlooked the offense (Proverbs 19:11). I put the pieces together and I knew that I was probably ringing up a stressed out and possibly overworked parent. Whether they were polite or rude, I knew that I was playing a part in providing the Christmas for many children. It brings a smile to my face even as I type this as I think about what gifts these children might have been opened on Christmas morning came from one of our toy isles stocked by one of my co-workers and rung up by me. How is this not meaningful? How does this not matter?

Our candy flies off the shelf. In fact, I joked to my manager that we could just convert the entire store into a candy store and we’d still get the same amount of business. For this reason, I front and stock candy just about more than anything else. Although it isn’t the healthiest thing to consume, candy does make people happy, especially children. People can get their Hershey bars, or Reese’s cups, or whatever because I put them on the shelves to be sold. And then I rung them up to complete the financial transaction.

Ok, but aren’t I easily replaceable? Someone else could do what I do. I’m not that important. Right? Well, yes. But that is the case with anything you could ever possibly do. Commenting on Ecclesiastes 1:8-11, biblical scholar Carmen Joy Imes writes “I’m convinced that he is not trying to depress us. Rather, the Teacher of Ecclesiastes is taking a sober look at human ambition and recognizing its limits. You and I are dispensable. People die all the time, and the world keeps turning without their hard work. If we lift a bucket of water out of the ocean, it does not leave a hole. Perhaps this is why retirement or prolonged illness or disability can be so unsettling. In addition to a dramatic shift in daily routines and social networks, a new question plagues us: If the world can go on without my work, then why did I work in the first place? What good did it do?” ^[6]Imes, Carmen Joy. 2023. Being God’s Image: Why Creation Still Matters. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press.

Even our “sacred” professions are something that someone else could do. Did the world of Christian Apologetics come to an end with the death of St. Augustine or St. Thomas Aquinas? No. What about William Paley or Blaise Pascal? No. Will the world no longer be able to read their Bibles “naked” now that biblical scholar and podcaster Michael S. Heiser has gone to be with The Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8)? No. Did churches stop being planted when Nero unalived the Apostle Paul? No. Was Moses the only person God could have created to lead the Israelites out of Egypt? Would the Israelites have been screwed if Moses absolutely refused to obey Yahweh? No. God would have picked someone else just as he replaced King Saul with David. If my pastor were to croak today (which I hope doesn’t happen by the way) someone else could preach and counsel at Powdersville First Baptist Church. We are important, but we’re not that important. Not even the angelic host of God is needed. God is all knowing and infinitely wise. Jude 1:25 calls him “The Only Wise God”. Does he need a divine council? No.

Should this depress us? No. Here is the thing; we are all important. We get to participate in God’s world. I get to defend Christianity in my conversations with atheists, agnostics, and Jehovah’s Witnesses. I get to preach the gospel to the lost. I get to teach God’s word. And I get to participate in the economy in the process of putting food on peoples’ tables, and toys for children, and medicine for sick people. The divine council gets to throw their 2 cents in when Yahweh is about to make a decision (see, for example, 1 Kings 22:19-23, cf. Genesis 1:26). I am replaceable, but I would surely upset the balance a little bit if I suddenly died or decided not to show up to work. My manager would have to have to act fast to find my replacement. Someone would get called in and would have to fill in for me until she found out what happened to me. The schedule would need to be revamped, and it would cause a big short term headache. We are replaceable, but we’re not worthless. We would leave a hole that, yes, can and will be filled, but there would still be a hole nonetheless. And this fact should comfort us. We are important, but the world would not come crashing down if something happened to us like were some chosen one in a movie who is the only one capable of resolving the conflict. “You’re the only one who can save us now!” And honestly I’m glad for that. I would hate to have that much weight on my shoulders! Being the chosen one is a lot of pressure! Only one man had that level of importance and his name is Jesus Christ. In other words, only God Himself is that important. For as scripture says “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” (Colossians 1:17, NIV)

So in conclusion, these days I am a lot more content at my job than I was. Does this mean I go in there chanting “I’m ready! I’m ready! I’m ready!” with the enthusiasm of SpongeBob SquarePants? No. But at the same time, this new mindset I have aqquired keeps me from being a Squidward Tentacles. Squidward works at The Krusty Krab because he has to. What he wants to do is be a professional Clarinet player, a dream that will likely never come true. SpongeBob is passionate about his job. He knows he’s providing a service for the people of Bikini Bottom and it brings him great joy. I thank God for giving me the wisdom to be more like SpongeBob and less like Squidward. My friendly smile behind the counter is more genuine these days than before. Is this the fruit of The Holy Spirit? “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22, NIV)

Of course, being a bit joyful is possible not only with this mindset but it also helps that I have an awesome manager who works with me when I need time off, was forgiving of my slip ups when I first got started, and gives verbal recognition of my hard work in the form of praise and setting me up as an example for slothful newbies. She is the kind of manager you want to work hard for, and I hope she stays the manager for as long as I work.

This scripture is often mutatis mutandis from its original master-slave setting to employer-employee setting as is proper to The Message-Incident principle of Bible interpretation. ^[7]See “The Message-Incident Principle” by Dennis Lamoureux, September 8th 2009, BioLogos, — https://biologos.org/articles/the-message-incident-principle The apostle Paul wrote “Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free. And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.” (Ephesians 6:6-9, NIV)

The incident is masters and slaves, but the message is applicable to any position in which you are working for someone else. How hard would you work if Jesus Christ was your boss? If you can answer that question, that is how hard you ought to work.

In the new year, I want to challenge you, whatever your profession, to find what is meaningful about your job. How are you helping people? Even if it’s just in small ways, I’m sure you’ll come to some answers. And let me say this; I personally am thankful for door dashers who bring my Little Caesars pizza to my door so I don’t have to go out and get it myself. I am thankful for the people who make my burgers and fries when I go to Burger King or McDonalds (especially after a long and hard shift myself). I’m thankful to that young blonde girl at Kohl’s who rang up my items on December 22nd when I did my last minute Christmas shopping. I’m thankful to whatever workers put the items on the shelves. Without them, I wouldn’t have been able to finish up getting my family’s Christmas presents. I’m thankful to the garbage men who empty my trash cans that I take down to the end of my driveway. Without them, I’d have to load up a car full of stinky garbage and haul it off the to the landfill myself. I am thankful for Alejandra the banker at Wells Fargo who was there to help me make a withdrawal when I was waiting on my new debit card to arrive in the mail. I’m thankful for the woman on the customer service line who temporarily froze my account and sent a new card after I noticed an unauthorized transaction. I’m thankful for gas station clerks who are there to do the transaction so our cars can have gas to run on. Your work is meaningful. It doesn’t matter what it is that you do. If you were getting paid to do it, it’s meaningful in someway. You just have to stop and think and figure out how exactly you are serving people.

One more thing, let’s drop this whole distinction between “secular jobs” and “sacred professions”. As 1 Corinthians 10:31 says “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” Sola Deo Gloria!