I hope you’ll join us Sunday for the kick-off of our new series Your Work Matters. You probably spend more time working than anything else in your life, making it unbelievable important that you do work “right.”

Since the series is new I thought it would be fun to look up all the positive things the Bible has to say about work. Turns out it says a lot. So I had to cut it down to my 10 favorite. So here are:

10 Great Things About Work According to the Bible

10. You can meet your own daily needs. (2 Thess. 3:10)

As a father of 3 children, who seem to be part locust, I can testify that when you work to provide for yourself it makes everyone else in your life happy. The Bible agrees with the pleading of parents everywhere: Get a job!

9. You can build wealth. (Proverbs 10:4)

Dave Ramsey quotes the Bible all the time for good reason. The Bible often talks about how working hard, and then following God’s plan for your money, is the consistent way to build wealth.

8. You can help those who are weak. (Acts 20:35)

This might be framed weird to you, but there is truth here. The weak don’t help the weak, the strong help the weak. When you work you are able to help those who cannot work. If you really want to make a difference in this world one of the best ways to do that is to make a lot of money through your work…

7. You can build your skills. (Proverbs 22:29)

Whether it’s a hard skill like a trade, or soft skills like managing people, think about how much you have learned through your various jobs. I bet you learned a ton from your first job even though it was very simple!

6. You sleep better (Eccl. 5:12)

Have you ever watched TV all day and at the end of it you feel like crap and you can’t sleep? Compare that to a long day of hard work and it’s easy to see how this one is true. When you work hard you sleep better. But you DO have to have some work/life boundaries in place.

5. It teaches you perseverance. (Galatians 6:9)

The only way to learn the principle of cause and effect (what the Bible would call reaping and sowing) is to do some work and learn that you get a reward for your labor, even if that reward is delayed. Through work you learn to believe that if you plant corn you get corn.

4. You can complete the plans you have made. (Proverbs 16:3)

Everyone has dreams. The real difference between people who realize their dreams and people who keep dreaming is hard work.

3. You can develop a reputation for excellence. (Proverbs 22:29)

When you work, you will develop a reputation in the world. What kind will it be? If you work excellently, you earn the reputation of someone who is excellent in what they do.

2. You won’t be a burden to the people who do work. (2 Thess. 3:9)

I love this one! If you CAN work, but you DON’T work then you are being a burden to someone unnecessarily. You might be a burden to your family, or to society, but your lack of work affects everyone around you.

1. It keeps you from resorting to crime (Ephesians 4:28)

My all time favorite thing about work according to the Bible is that it keeps you from becoming a thief! Hard work has the double benefit of providing what you need so you are less tempted, but also helping your empathize with the hard work of the people you are stealing from. This also reminds me that I probably could have used a couple extra jobs in High School…

Those are my Top 10! What do you think did I leave anything out?

[Thank you for reading! If you are looking for a church in Boston or churches in Boston please consider giving Renewal Church a try!]