Appetite is an incentive to work;
 hunger makes you work all the harder. Proverbs 16:25 MSG

Work is necessary and the desire to create something out of nothing is all about God’s divine design. Genesis 2 records God gave His man work before He gave him a woman. That doesn’t suggest girls don’t work. For me, I see a basic principle…work is good!

But in our day and time, it seems as if there is an aversion to honest labor. Many of us have seen the hungry holding up their cardboard sign at our cities major intersections. And I have felt compelled to contribute to the cause more times than not. But I must mention here that when we moved to my wife’s hometown, out in the country, those signs are not here! On the contrary, there are many farmers who would love to have a hard-working hand or somebody that’s not afraid to cut some trees or build some fence for a few dollars.

The bottom line when it comes to work is there has to be a “want to.” And one of the worst things you can do to a culture of people is to encourage them to seek an easy way to get their needs met.

The wildly popular book called the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is a take off of this kind of situation.  After the Roman downfall, it was said that their demise was due to a people forgetting their historical birthright for the promise of cheap food and entertainment, or a superficial means of appeasement. This was coined “bread and circuses” (Latin: panem et circuses).

It always turns out that there is nothing new under the sun. Still, God gave us all hearts to work at something. And my work will look different than yours, but if we will “work” at it intently, the world will indeed revolve in balance and in abundance.