What Do I Do When Work Is Hard?
Work is hard.
Sometimes it’s the boss. Sometimes it’s the coworkers. Sometimes it’s the endless inbox, the difficult customer, the long hours, or simply the feeling that what I’m doing doesn’t matter.
But the Bible gives us an important starting point: work itself isn’t evil. Work is good.
Before sin ever entered the world, God was working. Genesis introduces Him as Creator, and in Genesis 2, Adam is placed in the garden and given work to do. Work existed in paradise.
Then Genesis 3 happened.
Sin entered the world and everything became fractured, including our work. The ground produced thorns and thistles. Work became marked by sweat, frustration, difficulty, and exhaustion.
That helps explain the tension so many of us feel. Work is still good, but work is broken.
Why Is Work Hard?
Ecclesiastes 2 describes work as toil and striving. Even at night, the worker’s heart struggles to rest.
That doesn’t mean our response should be to quit everything and avoid work. Ecclesiastes is showing us what life looks like “under the sun.” Work separated from God’s redemptive purposes eventually becomes empty.
That’s also why my career can never carry the weight of my identity.
Work can be something I do. It cannot be who I am.
A title, promotion, paycheck, or career will eventually fail me if I ask it to tell me who I am.
How Do I Navigate It?
Instead of only asking, “How can I get through this?” there’s a better question:
How can God use this as I go through it?
Colossians tells us that whatever we do, we can do it in the name of Jesus and work heartily for the Lord.
That means there isn’t a divide between “sacred” work and everything else.
Teaching matters. Building matters. Answering emails matters. Raising kids matters. Cleaning floors matters. Going to class matters.
My ultimate boss isn’t my manager, customer, professor, or paycheck.
I work for the glory of God.
That should change how followers of Jesus show up. I can work with integrity when nobody is watching. I can refuse gossip. I can address conflict directly. I can assume the best instead of immediately assuming the worst. I can work differently because Jesus is transforming me.
Should I Stay or Should I Go?
Don’t leave simply because it’s hard. Don’t stay simply because it’s easy.
Those aren’t necessarily kingdom categories.
Instead ask: Is my vocation causing me to forsake my mission?
Is this job requiring me to disobey God? Is it destroying my ability to love my spouse or disciple my children? Is it pulling me away from the people and purposes God has entrusted to me? Is there another place where I could more faithfully use how God has gifted me to serve others and make disciples?
Those are much bigger questions than whether Monday morning feels difficult.
And sometimes, the answer really may be to go.
But sometimes we leave too soon.
Jesus Understands Hard Work
Genesis 3 describes the curse with two striking images: sweat and thorns.
Then Jesus goes to the cross.
He sweats drops of blood. A crown of thorns is pressed onto His head.
Jesus stepped directly into the brokenness of our world and ultimately gave His life to redeem it.
So I don’t have to pretend my work isn’t hard. And I don’t have to believe hard work is meaningless.
Jesus meets me there too.
The Sunday-to-Monday gap gets smaller when I realize that following Jesus doesn’t stop when the service ends. It changes how I answer an email, lead a meeting, treat a coworker, make a decision, and endure a difficult season.
Even my work can become an act of worship.