Work: Blessing or Curse?

For Monday column in Eastern Mirror

‘If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat’

There are many Naga government employees who draw their salaries month after month, year after year, without doing any work!!! Isn’t there any voice in the conscience, even a tiny whisper, saying, ‘I must do something to earn the salary that I receive each month to support myself and my family’?

It is a team-work to work in the government set up and if there is a weak link, the whole department suffers. The office files cannot jump tables and if one staff in the hierarchy does not show up, the files get stuck in his/her table and everything is held up. That is one reason why our office works move too slow. Even if the State releases a sanction for the benefit of a village, if there is one errant employee at the district or block level, that is enough to deprive the village of the benefit. Such instances happen ever so regularly that we have normalized the wrong, and have accepted such things as the-way-things-go-around-here. Therefore officers and staff have to be requested, begged, visited at home, given a bribe or ‘gift’ or a ‘love letter from the top’ to do the work they are supposed to do. Not only officers but even peons and chowkidars have to be ‘oiled’ to keep their engines running.

In the district and sub-district levels, offices stay shut for weeks and months. Even in the Capital, the average effective working hours per day is just about 3-4 hours. I have been to some places where performance reports are received regularly but locals tell me that the employee has not shown up in the last 6 months. Some are always busy with church work that they don’t have time for office work. Some say they got up on the wrong side of the bed and cannot come for work. Some say that their camel died. There is no lack of excuses, excuses enough to justify one to receive salary without work!

We also have the problems of incompetence and lack of professionalism. Many people do not know their job responsibilities and do not care to acquire the skills required for their job. I observe that some computer assistants who have degree/diploma certificates can hardly do the basic works in a computer. Protocols, guidelines, and SOPs are not followed and works are done in one’s own khushi-khushi style. We have no dearth of skills or talent, but the unwillingness to learn is a bad spirit that must be exorcised.

Having enthusiasm and finding joy in work are hard to find among colleagues and employees. What type of work do we search; work that interests us or one with the least workload and a good pay? Some people habitually complain and the only time when their faces light up is when they get their pay. Such working spirit is contagious and it demoralizes those around them who want to work.

Those who wouldn’t work in the offices are not necessarily lazy people. For their own business or personal work or church activities, some of them are very active people. But what is it about official work that many of our employees have no heart for? What is the value we give to our places of work? How much do we give importance to the work which is our source of livelihood?  

Is work a curse which resulted from the fall of Adam and Eve? No. Before the fall, God worked to create the universe and all that is in it. The God of the Bible is a working God. Not only during the creation but all through the Bible, God is found to be constantly at work. He commanded Adam and Eve to work, yes, before the fall. ‘The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and keep it’ (Gen. 2:15). So, it is wrong to think that work is a curse due to Adam’s sin.

Then, what is it about work that we find to be drudging and unpleasant? What is it about work that we always try to flee from it? Vishal Mangalwadi in his book ‘Truth and Transformation’ makes the distinction between work and toil. Toil he says is ‘the mindless, repetitive labor that requires no choice’. This is the result of sin and it is a curse. Through ‘thorns and thistles’ and ‘by the sweat of his face man shall eat his bread’ (Gen. 3: 18, 19). Toil saps all our energy and is devoid of any sense of meaning or fulfillment. Since toil is a result of sin, salvation involves freeing us from this. In our context, this may involve liberation from unproductive work where a man labors day and night but cannot make both ends meet. Amartya Sen explains freedom in terms of the options that a person possesses. If a man is trapped in a job which is not in tune with his interest, skill, health status, physical ability, etc., but has no other option for survival; that is toil. But nowhere is it said that Salvation is freedom from work itself. God intends work to be a very fulfilling and meaningful activity. Work is a pleasure that is given for us to enjoy. ‘So I decided there is nothing better than to enjoy food and drink and to find satisfaction in work. Then I realized that these pleasures are from the hand of God,’ Ecclesiastes 2:24 (NLT).

When we say we are doing the Lord’s work, we primarily mean church work. But we find it difficult to say the same when we are doing office desk work or running a commercial business. However, R. Paul Stevens says that in the Bible, “work that is the ‘Lord’s work’ and has intrinsic value is not determined by its religious character or even the fact that God’s name is being used openly”. Every good work is a gift from above. A beautiful work of art does not become valuable before the eyes of God just because there is a small cross on it. God loves work of beauty that reflects his creative nature. Stevens says that wealth creation is not evil as some preachers would make us believe; but it is ‘part of bringing shalom to people and the world’. Things that we make with our hands or minds may fade, but whatever is done in faith, hope, and love will be redeemed and will find its place in the new heaven and new earth. It doesn’t matter what your profession or nature of work is. If you give your heart to it, you glorify God, and you’ll find joy and fulfillment in what you do.