The thought expressed in this picture is very tempting to believe, but I think it's one of the deceptions that steals our joy in life.
Last week I was sitting there with a couple hours to work with, some dishes in the sink I needed to wash and a Bible study that needed some preparation. Audrey was heading out of the house so I was left to my own devices. Now, this feeling doesn't always come over me, but it definitely happens fairly often. The feeling of just really not wanting to tackle the job I have in front of me, just a real feeling of a lack of motivation or excitement about anything. And these jobs were not super difficult per se, but it was just more the temptation to be lazy and do nothing verses putting some effort into getting something done. It was honestly a struggle, but I finally decided to get my hands dirty, or clean, and wash some dishes. And it struck me as I began to get into it how my motivation dramatically picked up and I was really enjoying the chore, not just trudging through it. By the end I was excited and looking forward to the other job I had in front of me. This feeling compared to the feeling I probably would have had if I had chosen to procrastinate: more feelings of demotivation, combined probably with a bit of guilt for choosing to be lazy, and a feeling of lost time where I was feeling bad about my choice while not getting anything done.
Ironically, or not, the Bible passage that I studied that day included this:
"But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness." Hebrews 3:13
It struck me that it is the deceitfulness of sin at work in my heart during those times of wanting to procrastinate and be lazy. The lie is that doing what my flesh wants is going to be better in the end than doing what I know God designed me for, one of those things definitely being work. There is of course a time and place for rest, but at least for me, my struggle is more often against laziness than workaholism. And actually, I feel like work and rest go hand-in-hand, one not really fully being able to come without the other. I think of the Garden of Eden where Adam and Eve walked with God in the cool of the evening after a long day of work. It strikes me as quite a restful time, but what would it have been without the hard work of the day leading up to it?
In the end what really struck me was that I want to know and experience more of the kind of fulfillment in work that God intended for us, but I realize that with my fallen nature it is going to take tough times of deciding against my natural desires, much tougher than choosing to wash the dishes, to keep my heart soft and able to choose God's way over my own.
Apparently there is a book by a CEO who tried to put some of these principles of finding joy in our work into practice at his company. I haven't read it, but I think I might check it out. Here's the book:
