“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.” 

This week, I talked with my (older two) boys about work. It’s actually kind of an odd conversation to have with kids, whose sense of “work” and “labor” is so isolated from what we consider work to be as adults. To us, “work” consumes large portions of our lives. But to them, “work” is a distant reality that they will have to deal with someday but not now. For now, still in childhood, work is wholly in the future.

But it’s not. And they need to realize that.

There has been a clear generational change taking place in western culture, and it has not gone unnoticed by historians, sociologists, pastors, and general observers of the culture. Speaking of this change, Albert Mohler comments that these new, up-and-coming generations

“really do represent something new in life stage experience. Their emergence into full adulthood is coming, in the main, considerably later than it did for their parents and virtually every earlier generation after the dawn of modernity. Their emergence into adulthood has been delayed by higher education, by the delay of marriage, by economic instability, and by the continued financial support of their parents. Thus, this generation of young adults has experienced ‘a historically unparalleled freedom to roam, experiment, learn, move on, and try again.” (Albert Mohler, The Gathering Storm, 129)

The generations about which Mohler writes are predominantly that of “millennials” and “gen-Z’rs,” who when combined comprise basically those in the age-range of early twenties to late thirties. As his observations make clear, the challenges, expectations, and worldview distinctions of these younger generations have led to a unique understanding of what it means to be an “adult.” As Mohler continues, he begins to put his finger on the genesis of this change:

“What has changed since their teenage years? Perhaps the most significant impression presented in the project is that these young adults have distanced themselves from their parents and from their parents’ religious faith to a greater degree, though they remain positively related to their parents (and economically dependent upon them) and hopeful about the future of this relationship. They are now preoccupied with life tasks and are struggling to retain optimism amid the baffling array of adult responsibilities before them. They see themselves as broke but are eagerly committed to a consumerist culture. Above all, they are preoccupied with the concerns of the self.”

I like what Mohler said, because I think it hits right on the underlying issue going on in the culture. There is a continued worldview shift in the transition from one generation to the next. These younger adult generations, in addition to navigating challenges perhaps not faced by their parents, are doing so while also no longer appropriating the religious worldview with which their parents faced similar challenges. The result is a kind of delayed adulthood and the need to invent new terms and categories for a period of life which, in eras past, would have simply been called “adulthood.” But these individuals aren’t ready for adulthood, and it shows.

That’s why I sat down with my boys the other night, and during out devotional time, read through Genesis 2 with them. We talked about the world pre-fall, about the dignity and importance of marriage as a relationship God created. We didn’t have to go into the nitty-gritty details of “one flesh” for them to get the point that Adam and Eve’s relationship was special. But we also talked about work, and that’s where Solomon’s words in Ecclesiastes 9:10 intersects with Moses’ words in Genesis 2. Even though Solomon focused on work as an activity to be enjoyed in light of the inevitability of death, it’s built on a foundation of something greater than the philosophy of ‘You only live once.” It’s built on the nobility of work.

“The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” (Genesis 2:15)

That short, terse statement is seminal to understanding our life “under the sun,” to borrow once again from our friend Solomon. It’s a reminder to see our work and our toil as more than just a consequence for our rebellion against our Creator. It confronts the unbiblical notion that had it not been for sin, life would have been easy and labor-free. Nothing is further from the truth. Sure, Adam worked hard after the fall. Part of his consequence was to toil over a cursed ground which would yield its crop begrudgingly only through increased sweat and labor.

But in reality, from the very beginning, at a time when God had pronounced over the entirety of his creation the status of being “very good,” (Gen 1:31), he had given man the purpose of work, and that provides for us a context for understanding our work and our job within the framework of nobility. That’s what I wanted my boys to understand. If progressing generations are increasingly distancing themselves from the worldview of their parents with the result that adulthood and responsibility and self-sacrifice are no longer share values, then I want to make sure my kids understand that part of the Christian worldview involves seeing work not as an begrudging obligation but as a thankful privilege. There is nobility in work, and whether that work comes with a paycheck (i.e., adulthood) or whether it’s simply an item on the family chore wheel (i.e., childhood), the Christian worldview gives us the framework necessary to embrace that work as something good and something through which we can glorify God “in whatever you do” (1 Cor 10:31).

Circling back to Solomon’s words, this framework gives us an even better understanding of his point. We don’t just want to enjoy our work because someday we’re going to die and you want to make sure you’ve found satisfaction in your labor. The point really is, whatever your work is, whatever your job, put all of yourself into it, because with death comes the end of labor and that’s not a good thing. Think about it! Had sin not brought death, Adam would have been tending and keeping that garden forever. Labor was built into paradise. Death brought a cessation of that which God made perfect, including labor.

I want my boys to understand that. I want them to embrace work and labor as a gift, as God’s purpose for them, and as a philosophy of what it means to be not just an adult, but an image-bearer of God.