Many people despise work because they don’t understand the purpose of work.

They see work as punishment, so they are unmotivated and as a result get little or nothing at the end of the day. That is why they complain and grumble about their work. Every man who lacks this understanding lives under punishment and pressure all the days of his life.

But as you get educated on the purpose of work, you would understand why diligence at work is non-negotiable. I see you enjoying fulfillment in your work from henceforth. 
- Work is a Scriptural Obligation: The foremost reason for working is because God commands that man must work. In Genesis 2:15 the Bible says:

 "And the LORD GOD took the man, and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it."  So when a man refuses to work he is not only ungodly, he has despised the original purpose for which he was created. Nothing makes a man purposeless like idleness. 
- Work Creates Pleasure: Every man’s pleasure is derived from his work. Your sweet will always come from your sweat. Those who love leisure will never see pleasure because pleasure is a product of pressure.

 So, refusing to drop your sweat is denying yourself of the sweet because every pleasure you desire in life is embedded in your work. That is why you can never find a happy idle man. The most excited people I have ever met are genuine workers.

- Work is the Ladder to Elevation: Your work determines your rating and your rating determines your promotion. Nothing gives you the opportunity for promotion like work and nothing attracts promotion for you like work.

Only a worker has the opportunity to prove his worth and eligibility for promotion. Every highly placed man you see today worked his way up. A genuine worker does not need to lobby for promotion; he will never need to beg for promotion, his work will naturally speak for him. Promotion is the heritage of workers - 

Proverbs 22:29
- Work Generates Wealth: It is your work that determines your wealth. The Holy Bible says in Proverbs 10:4, "He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich."

So what you have is a function of what you do. Your hand is the generator of your wealth. When a man’s hand is always in his pocket or behind his back, he is bound to become poor. 

- Work Maintains Health: When you work you exercise yourself physically and mentally and by so doing, your life span is prolonged. That is why you find some old people still looking strong and healthy at 70 years and above, especially in our rural areas.

Majority of them don’t take drugs, they are simply working. When you don’t work, your body becomes flabby due to disuse. But work keeps you in sound health, which leads to long life. Work also has a way of sharpening and improving your mental output. 

- Work Contributes to the Well-Being of Our Society/Community: When you work, you are contributing your quota to the well being of your community and the improvement of your society.

Through your work, you create advancement and accomplishment for the system to which you belong. There is something you have that somebody needs, there is also something you need that somebody else has. It is through work that you contribute to others and also gain from them.

Unfortunately there are many who just parasite on others or on the society and the government. All they are looking for is what to take and when they don’t get enough they steal! You cannot be fulfilled if you are not a contributor in a workplace.  In fact you don’t have a right to be at a place where you are not a contributor. 

It is on record that from the day Joseph was employed in Portiphar’s house everything there prospered. "…The LORD blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake…" (Genesis 39:5). You need to ask yourself sincerely:

 "Has anything prospered since I was employed at my place of work? And if there has been, what is the measure?"  Joseph was a slave, yet he had something to contribute to Potiphar’s house.

So don’t look at yourself as being too low in cadre or status to contribute something to that organization where you are working. If you think that way then you are not a worker but a mere salary earner. Be a contributor rather than working just for pay.

Wherever you find yourself, be committed to the good of the organization because that is where God will bless you. Work as if it is your father’s business, and as if the entire life of the organization depends on you.

Whether you know it or not, whatever you practice as an employee is what you will keep doing when you become an employer. So, if you are an employee today, start practicing how to become great tomorrow by being a diligent worker.

- Work is Service: Work is an avenue to express your sense of stewardship. It is unfortunate that most people put money first as their reason for working when it should be last. And you will discover that such people are often not sincere with their work.

They have mistaken work to be an avenue for making money so they devise so many ways of cheating their employers and clients. But the Bible says, "Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished…" (Proverbs 13:11).

Your work will bring you wealth but not by cheating or exploiting people. It is narrow-mindedness to think of pay as the first reward for work. A man’s actual reward is not the pay he receives but the impact he makes on the lives of others and on his community.

It is a true saying, that the highest reward for any kind of labour is not what you get from it, but what you become by it. I want to implore you to work with the purpose of contributing to your community.

- This understanding will make you an asset and not a liability wherever you find yourself. Your fulfillment in life is tied to your work. That is why Proverbs 14:23 says, "In all labour there is profit: but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury."

 You can see from theses points that you are the major beneficiary of all the virtues of work, so if you are not working you are only cheating yourself.

Pastor Israel Etimis the senior pastor of Winners Chapel International, The Gambia. He can be contacted on : 9917917 or 4461577