Who are you working for?

“For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?” 
 Ecclesiastes 4:8.

This is a good question to ask ourselves. What is the purpose to our working? Whether it’s voluntary, paid, around the home, in the community or in business - what’s the purpose of your toil?

Do you work hard to provide for your family? Give your kids nice things? Provide for your retirement? Make advancements for the next generation? keep busy? earn money? We all have different reasons. I’m not saying any of them are right or wrong, but it is good to consider why do you do what you do.

The verse above implies that as we work we deprive ourselves of some pleasure. That is true - we can’t do all the things we want to when we have all the responsibilities of work (whatever kind of work that is). So is the balance worth it?

I have had times in my life when I have to consider the balance of work and home life. Compromises have to be made. The decision has not always seemed for my benefit either, but it’s often a consideration of many factors.

One of the hardest decisions I had to make regarding work was when I gave up a job I absolutely loved and was good at. It stretched and challenged me, I enjoyed the day-to-day responsibilities and workload. I was successful and I had a sense of enjoyment and escape from the difficult home life we had at the time.
The opportunity then came up for me to be at home full-time without losing a wage. That, for me, was a terribly difficult decision (it may seem like a dream to some). I found home life so difficult that work was an escape. Maybe you’ve experienced something like that, or even the other way around. I had to carefully consider if I could give up something I enjoyed for something that would deprive me of pleasure and success, and would most certainly be toil. Maybe God is also calling you to something that is really hard, or to make a decision that seems not to make sense but you have a yearning towards it - what are you going to do?

At that time in my life I felt that God asked me to give up the job. It took me weeks to consider, pray and set my mind to do it though as it was not something that I actually wanted to do. Sometimes our lives call us to endure toil. This was a time of great toil for me. But my life is not just about me getting enjoyment, success or pleasure out of it.

As christians, God calls us all to go and make disciples (Matthew 28:19), and I was required during that season to give up some pleasure in order to invest in the future disciples of our household. I was required to invest in the lives entrusted to us. It took me weeks of internal battle to make that decision because I didn’t’t actually want to do it. I was aware this season would be one of toil. But, now, over 3 years later, has the investment been worth it? Really, does that even matter? To God, our obedience matters, but yes, our family looks vastly different to how it was then. We have all grown. I have had the privilege of noticing the small improvements, to provide the simple things that our kids have appreciated and we have healthy relationships. I can only hope and pray that this continues. The years of toil for you and I will be worth it when we are following what God wants us to do. If our toil is simply doing it for our own advancement there is limited reward in that.

 “For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?” 

You may say for me, it was for our kids, but mainly I did it because God was asking me to, and of course, it was of benefit to our family. The long-lasting effects, who knows?!
I am now in a position where I am again considering my work life. It seems like God is unsettling some things and bringing some new things closer - what decision will I make in the following months? Where am I going? and what am I going to do? Am I going to trust God in the difficult decisions when there’s an easy way ahead? I pray for you and I that we will bravely take God’s way - there’s much more pleasure in that even when there’s a lot of toil involved.

I'd encourage you to take time today to consider this, and maybe ponder these questions:
Are you following your own plan?
Someone else plan?
Or God’s plan in your life?
Does your work fulfil the mission God has given you?
For whom are you toiling and depriving yourself of pleasure?