Very Good Work (Genesis 1:1-31)

Some Christians believe that work is bad, that it is a curse brought about by Adam and Eve’s sin left uncorrected. This mistaken belief can cause people to feel that what they do in their jobs every day is not important to God, or at the very least, is not as important as the work of missionaries. This is not true as Genesis 1:25-31 teaches us.

First we learn that God Himself works as evidenced by the labour involved in creation and the fact that He rested on the seventh day. Then we discover that man was made on the sixth day in His image (v 26) and that he was granted dominion over creation. This means that man has to work to tend creation. Clearly the tending of God’s creation is work, noble work, for God looked upon His labours and declared them “very good” (v 31).

It must not escape our notice, either, that work was declared good before sin entered the world, in other words, work did not result from the fall and therefore is not a curse. We see this idea again in Genesis 2 when God “took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and keep it” (v 15).

Let us approach each day’s labour, whether at a job or doing activities to help our family, with our awareness of the dignity and nobility God granted in creation. May God give us work till our life shall end, and life till our work is done, and may God take our life after the work is finished. Amen

Bro Isaac Kapa (Tongaren, Kenya)