Our problem today is that we abhor work. Work used to be that which defined America -- not simply our ingenuity or our dedication but the way we valued the labor of our hands. The move to a mechanized manufacturing world and even agriculture has shifted thinking away from work with our hands. The service industry has expanded greatly but this is more often seen as an entry level job than where you end up. I spoke with an HVAC tech who told me this was just the gig he got to pay the bills but he wants to do something different. He is in his early twenties and earns far more than I did as a pastor in my early career (even accounting for the different times). He has a large house, toys, his wife works as a professional, and he feels like his job, while it certainly pays the bills, does not have the aroma of success around it. Look at the numbers of openings for plumbers, electricians, and the building trades. It is hard work, to be sure, but it has the smell of need rather than accomplishment in our culture. I spoke with another twenty-something who gave up a very lucrative job as a carpenter to work in a service job because he found it more to his liking to have set hours, three days off a week, and a predictable schedule all year round rather than the higher earnings. Work is not valued like it once was or should be.
I suspect that this goes hand in hand with those who see domestic life as not only dull and routine but low class. Parenting costs so much more than it rewards in the eyes of young people today. Marriage is also evaluated by the same measure of rewards for investment. Volunteerism once was the hallmark of the society of America but it too has waned and those you once counted upon to do good works without pay are hard to come by. Even Salvation Army bell ringers are paid. The work of helping our neighbor is less done with gloves and tools than with donations to a cause. How odd that we a go fund me cause works while sign up sheets for delivering meals on wheels has the same old predictable names. Ours is not simply an immigration crisis or a reproductive crisis but a crisis of values. We do not value work and it shows. In order for factories to have people working in them, we will have to reevaluate that labor and esteem it more highly or no one will want to work in them. In this area we show ourselves far from the Biblical milieu where work was given in creation long before the Fall into sin and had a noble character to it. Maybe because of sin but certainly do to a change in the way we look at work and value labor, we no longer think it is a good thing. We still want what we want but we don't seem to want to work that hard to get it. This is another part of the whole idea of vocation that is changing and not for the good.
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Isn’t it interesting, given what you described as a current aversion to hard work, that the Romans experienced a similar situation around the times before and after Christianity appeared? Historians note that up to half of the population of Rome were slaves. They serviced the citizens, many of whom were prosperous and lived well off the booty acquired from trade and military conquests. After awhile, marriage faltered, perversions increased, birth rates declined, patriotism also fell to others, as Rome hired mercenaries from the Germanic and Slavic tribes which bordered the vast empires conquered earlier. And as the politics became more corrupt, the various factions fought for power among themselves. Worried about the bored citizenry, the leaders ensured that weekends in Rome included blood games at the Coliseum, festivals, free bread and wine, and the accoutrements of power and wealth were on full display. Even Roman soldiers could receive a pension for life, much like modern society, and flock leisurely off to a Mediterranean sunbelt geared toward retirees. Hmmmm. Similar to today? And that scenario existed a long time ago? Fallen man has not changed. Leaving the hard work to others becomes the rallying cry of a decaying culture. I once knew a reliable civil servant named George. I worked with him. Sometimes other employees didn’t feel like doing a certain detail. The “go to” comment was, “Let George do it.!” It is the same as sharing the word of God to a lost society. It can’t be simply assigned to others to do the work. There are opportunities abounding for witnessing if we look for them. Soli Deo Gloria
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