Some people, like the comic-strip character Beetle Bailey, work hard to avoid working. In real life, we know that work "makes the world go round." God placed Adam in the Garden of Eden "to tend and keep it" (Gen. 2:15), which shows us that work is essential to our well-being.

God wants us to work, and He wants us to put our hearts into what we do. That's easy for some people, like former Detroit Tiger baseball player Alan Trammell. He once said it was easy for him to be enthusiastic about his work because he was paid for doing what he would enjoy doing for nothing.

But how can a person put his heart into a job that is drearily monotonous, or so stressful that it brings on high blood pressure or ulcers? The apostle Paul gave these answers to followers of Christ: "Work with your own hands, . . . that you may lack nothing" (1 Th. 4:11-12). To another church he wrote, "Whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men" (Col. 3:23).

If you think of your job as a blessing by which you can provide for yourself and others, and that your diligence is honoring to the Lord, you too will have "a mind to work" (Neh. 4:6).  — Herbert Vander Lugt