–By Dr. Howard W. Norton

Americans are protesting, even demanding that businesses reopen so they can go back to work.  Most are workers who need a salary to support their families and pay the bills. Theirs is a noble ambition.

I, personally, believe the need to work goes deeper than financial gain.  When God created Adam, he “put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it” (Genesis 2:15 – ESV).  Never did the Creator plan for man to live as if he were on a lifetime, paid vacation.

Some have mistakenly thought work itself was a curse, but this idea comes from misreading the Scriptures.  The curse was not that man had to work. Work was a significant part of his reason to exist, a part of his DNA.  After Adam’s sin, God cursed the ground and reduced the joy of labor by mixing thorns, thistles, frustration, and sweat with man’s daily chores.

To be deprived of the basic human need to work results in a loss of dignity, independence, and a major part of our reason to live.  

Three cheers for all who long to work again!

–Howard Norton is an elder and Bible teacher at the College Church of Christ in Searcy, Arkansas; chairman of the World Bible School board of directors; a board member of Southern Christian Children’s Home in Morrilton, Arkansas; a board member of the Baxter Institute in Honduras, Central America; and a church consultant in both English- and Portuguese-speaking churches.   He frequently preaches and teaches in Brazilian churches and lectureships. He serves as a visiting teacher each year at the preacher training school in Recife and Campo Grande, Brazil. Norton is a writer, a columnist for Abundant Living Magazine, and a regular speaker at Abundant Living retreats. He retired from Harding University’s College of Bible and Ministry in 2012.