Work?

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men..."

Colossians 3:23

     How many of you know how to change the oil in a car or plug a hole in a tire? Or do you go somewhere to have someone else do these things for you? Have you ever made cards yourself? Do you make meals yourself? Can you fix your car yourself? Do you find things that you can do yourself? You've probably realized by now that I like to ask a lot of questions, but I do this to give you some things to consider. The topic I'm writing about today is a bit less theological than my previous topics. I’m going to discuss the benefits of doing things yourself and having a good work ethic.

     Jesus was a carpenter like his earthly father Joseph and he also worked and did many other things. Jesus did things himself and perhaps you'll discover that you can too. Work is important in this life, either for yourself or for someone else; one cannot support a family without working. In the bible Paul said that if you don’t work you don’t eat. God created us for work and we shouldn't try to avoid it. Working is actually good for you. It builds character, endurance, perseverance etc. Working can be hard and is sometimes discouraging, however, when you finish a hard job and have done well, you often get a strange sense of satisfaction for a job well done.

     I'd also like to talk about the benefits of doing things yourself. Consider this scenario: your car needs an oil change. You know how to do it but don’t really want to. So you go to the place you bought your car and pay them let’s say $50 to change your oil for you. You could have bought the oil and filter and taken 30 minutes to change your own oil and probably saved at least $25. Over the course of time and even just 10 oil changes, you could have saved, hypothetically $250, which is quite a lot of money. I know it may take more time doing it yourself but in the end, it can really save you a ton of money. This money can then be used for something else like food or doing something special with your family. If you do things yourself and do them well, most importantly with a happy heart, you will come out much better in life. 

     Remember that Jesus was a carpenter, he did much work, and he suffered pain. So don’t go and think, "Oh this is too hard," "I don’t want to do this," or maybe even, "I hate this job." Do your best in every job you do, don’t just try. I love this quote from Yoda in Star Wars, “Do or do not, there is no try.” That’s what we need to do, we don’t want to just try, we want to do. At the risk of sounding repetitive, let me bring this to a close. Working is good for you, it's good for your heath, and it is good for the soul. It builds all sorts of good attributes in you that will help you in life. 

    So this week, it is my hope that you will think about rather than paying to have someone else do something for you that you are capable of doing, do it yourself, and while you're at it, do your very best!

Chipper