We Have Spoiled the Meaning of Work

But again, that's not the whole story. Work has gotten spoiled. In the Creation stories, Adam and Eve are placed in the Garden to take care of it. Work is part of God's will for them. This high good is spoiled, however, because of the intrusion of human sin. Just as all of life becomes corrupted and tainted by sin, so also does man's work. Work is not itself a curse, but it comes to be laid under a curse. God says to Adam after he has sinned:

"Cursed is the ground because of you;
in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life; . . .
In the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread." ( Gen. 3: 17, 19)

Human sin, in other words, really disarranges things. It spoils the true meaning of our work. This does not mean that work is just punishment for sin, for, as we have seen, work is part of God's will for man, but, like everything else, its significance is distorted and lost when men do not do God's will, but follow instead their own wills.

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