- 3R Thursday
- Posts
- 3R Thursday: Sweaty Breadwinners
What is 3R Thursday?
3R Thursday is a newsletter published every Thursday that contains ruminations, reflections, and readings to encourage Christians in the pursuit of Truth, Goodness, and Beauty.
Rather listen to this on Spotify or Apple Podcasts? Please do!
Rather read online? You got it.
Now on to today’s piece 🤝
3R Thursday: Sweaty Breadwinners
Rumination
17And to Adam he said,
“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
and have eaten of the tree
of which I commanded you,
‘You shall not eat of it,’
cursed is the ground because of you;
in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
18thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
and you shall eat the plants of the field.
19By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.”
Reflection
It’s currently Summer, but here is the Fall.
God cursed the ground and then commanded Adam to work the ground to eat.
Working is not the curse.
The ground is the curse.
God commanded men to work.
“In pain you shall eat of [the ground] all the days of your life.”
The ground will produce thorns and thistles.
We will eat the plants of the field.
Eating bread will require sweat. Being the breadwinner requires hard work.
And once our work is done—we die; back to the ground we go.
Our modern society—through its abundance of tweets, reels, youtubes—claims that we can escape our command to work by misrepresenting the nature of our fallen world.
We hear it all the time:
“Escape the 9-5.”
“Join the New Rich.”
“Earn passive income.”
“Accumulate wealth in your sleep.”
“How I earn $10,000/month while working 4 hours/week.”
These are lies slithering around us in a vain attempt to avoid God’s command.
Even as we develop our Pious Proprietorship, we are still commanded to work.
Afterall, the ground is cursed. We know that our substance and provision will come from the ground. We know that the ground will have thorns and thistles. We know that we are commanded to work so that we can win our bread.
How then should we approach our work, our God-given toil?
Well, Sisyphus smiled, and I imagine the author of Ecclesiastes would smile too. He says:
18I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me, 19and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. 20So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun, 21because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. 22What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? 23For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.
24 There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, 25for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? 26For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God.
So work is good. Why? Because God commanded it.
Toiling is a part of life.
Navigating the thorns and thistles.
Earning our keep.
Bringing home the bacon.
Being the breadwinner so our wives can be homemakers.
Thankfully, we can become skillful in our work.
We were created—by design—to fulfill the deep longing we have to be back in the Garden.
God did not make a mistake when he cursed man to work for his daily bread.
He gave us the opportunity to become skilled in our work and stand before kings.
Do you see a man skillful in his work?
He will stand before kings;
he will not stand before obscure men.
It worked out well for Joseph—the interpreter of dreams— as he served the ruler of Egypt (Gen. 41:46).
It worked out well for Bezalel and Oholiab—the skilled and intelligent craftsman that built the Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant (Exodus 35:30-36:7).
And it worked out well for Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah—the wise men as they stood before the king (Daniel 1:17-20).
All that to say—the ground is still cursed.
Cultivating the ground into a garden requires strength, courage, perseverance, grit, effort, labor, hard work, toiling, strife, pain, discipline, the overcoming of obstacles, and being filled with the Holy Spirit—all while smiling.
So let’s get to it. Let’s continue being sweaty breadwinners.
Reading
That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis
This week’s 3R Thursday is presented by Rise & Build Academy.
If you know of a 10-12th grade student that is interested in law, I am teaching a class this fall entitled FOUNDATIONS OF LAW FROM A CHRISTIAN WORLDVIEW.
More information can be found at Rise & Build Academy.
The introductory lecture can be found here.
You can now listen to 3R Thursday on Spotify or Apple Podcasts!
Please share with all your friends!