Does Work Have to be a Burden?

While reading an article on meaningful work, a disturbing phrase rolled off the screen and onto me like a road roller. I wasn’t familiar with “the burden of existence,” but it was heavy and suffocating. In a search, I found it written at least as far back as 1818 in a work by Arthur Schopenhauer. He was known as “the philosopher of pessimism” because he “articulated a worldview that challenges the value of existence.” [1] No wonder I’d felt as though I’d been flattened.

I wondered, Is life really a burden? I had to honestly admit that sometimes life is heavy and terribly burdensome for me. Like when I feel heartbreak from the deep sorrow of loss, or when I am faced with an on-going monumental problem with no solution in sight. In those times I feel the weight of life, but those times are not the whole of my life. So I can’t generalize and say that it’s a burden simply to exist.

If we focus solely on the work aspect of life, we soon realize that we will always have some kind of work to do. In the past, people had to grow their food, build their shelter, sew their clothes, make repairs. Though most of us don’t do those things with our own hands now, we have to work at jobs to earn money to pay for it all. And we’re constantly working to prepare meals, clean, and do innumerable other chores to keep the household running smoothly. Day after day. Over and over. It can certainly feel burdensome at times.

Since work in some form makes up so much of life, another question came to me: Is work meant to be burdensome? For this answer, I went to the Creator of life and work.

God tells us that he created a perfect world (Genesis 1:31). Then he gave Adam and Eve a job. “Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground” (Genesis 1:28). Rule referred to “stewardship that reflects God’s own righteous governance.” [2] Part of their work was to govern God’s physical creation as he himself would have.

God also put Adam “in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it” (Genesis 2:15). Adam cultivated the land and was responsible for protecting it and keeping it in its pristine condition. There are no indications at all that Adam’s duties were burdensome to him.

But then sin entered the world. In addition to man’s relationship with God being broken, the ground was cursed, affecting man’s work. “¹⁷Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. ¹⁸It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. ¹⁹By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return” (Genesis 3:17-19).

No, work was not meant to be burdensome. It didn’t start out that way. I believe that before Adam’s disobedience and the curse, work was a joy for Adam as he cared for creation and provided for Eve in their perfect world. In serving God, he was fulfilling his purpose, and there was nothing but pleasure in it.

That brought up a third question: Does work have to continue to be a burden? When Jesus came, he redeemed man; we can now be reconciled to God because of his sacrifice on the cross. But can the curse on the ground also be reversed?

Sadly, sin is still on this earth, and we will always live with the consequences of it while we’re here. Therefore, man will painfully toil “all the days of your life…until you return to the ground” (Genesis 3:17, 19). But God wants to lessen those consequences for us.

God lightens our burdens when we walk with him. Jesus says, “²⁸Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).

An ox wears a yoke when he works. Jesus isn’t saying here that he will give us rest from work. He is promising rest in our work. It is rest for our souls, not our bodies. And it comes only by taking his yoke upon us and walking with him.

I see several implications for us in being yoked with Jesus. It indicates we are doing the same work he is. It allows him to keep us focused and moving in the right direction, avoiding distractions. It lets him bear much of the burden. And it means we are relying on him, so we are able to do even the difficult jobs. All of this lightens our load.

God also lightens our burdens when we have the same perspective on work that he does. We have already seen how God gave Adam work in the beginning. Each of us is created with work to do as well.

Paul tells us how to regard our work. “²³Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, ²⁴since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving” (Colossians 3:23-24).

Even Jesus came to earth for a specific work. Shortly before he returned to heaven, he said to his Father, “I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do” (John 17:4).

When we understand our work comes from God, we will view it differently. Even the most mundane and repetitive work can be service and worship to God. By completing our work with that attitude, we will fulfill our purpose and bring glory to God in our workplace, homes, and communities.

We will always have work, and we won’t always like it, but it doesn’t have to be a burden. Not when we yoke ourselves with Jesus and perform our work as service to him.

[1] Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

[2] Topical Lexicon from Bible Hub. See Resources.

Scripture quotations are from NIV.

Feature photo by Comstock on Freeimages.com