In 1982, Loverboy had a hit single, “Working for the Weekend.” The premise of the song was the opposite of the biblical vision of work and something foreign to Pete Ochs. The biblical vision is that we rest in order to work rather than working in order to rest. The principle of multiplication—and profit—begins with our labor. Adam and Eve were instructed to cultivate the garden to add value to the raw materials God provides.

Made to Work

Dana started working at a fast-food joint in Englewood, Colorado, at age fifteen. Bill also began working at the same age when he got his first job as a dishwasher at a diner in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. We both experienced the thrill of going to work and the joy of receiving a paycheck.

There was a sense of dignity in work. Almost fifty years later, this is still true. (Bill works at a law firm, and Dana works for Impact Foundation.) We both come from German stock, and a high work ethic is part of our mutual ethnic heritage. We work hard and long. We believe work is our calling—not just for workaholics or people who love their jobs, but for everyone.

We were made to work. In Genesis, God commands the first humans to maintain the garden and have dominion over creation—and this was before humanity’s rebellion and fall. A rhythm of six days of work and one day of rest is at the heart of creation.

The rebellion brought the thorns—metaphorical and literal—that made work more arduous, but that didn’t relieve us of our call to work. Paul wrote in Colossians 3:23–24, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”

Recall Jesus’s story about the rich man who built bigger barns to accommodate his bumper crop. There’s nothing wrong with bigger barns in themselves; the problem was the farmer did it so he could stop working and take it easy.

But the Lord said to him, “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?” (Lk. 12:20). The sin was in both his sloth and his hoarding.

Retirement?

These verses should be scary to some people who view their retirement as the end of the race. Our rest comes in heaven, not in retirement. Until then, we are commanded to work. Why? Because to bear God’s image is to create and build.

Work is a large part of what it means to be human. We will work even in heaven. Author Randy Alcorn writes, “Because work began before sin and the Curse, and because God, who is without sin, is a worker, we should assume human beings will work on the New Earth. We’ll have satisfying and enriching work that we can’t wait to get back to, work that’ll never be drudgery.”

If you’re in a job that you hate, it might sound great to be without work. But if you think of the most satisfying work you’ve ever done, you’ll get a glimpse of what it will be like in heaven.

We have friends who are beginning to retire. They’ve run the numbers, and they believe they have enough money to live out their lives without paid work. Good for them . . . maybe.

We say “maybe” because if retirement means a time to kick back and pursue a life of leisure and self-indulgence, that’s contrary to the scriptural mandate to work. This may sound like sacrilege to the American Dream, but our current retirement culture seems out of step with the biblical vision. One study has also found that retiring early may even shorten your life!

On the other hand, there is a danger of idolizing work and ignoring God’s command to rest. Too many Christians seem to think there are only nine commandments that still apply, that the Sabbath was an Old Testament thing. Not so. Jesus sought to reform antihuman Sabbath observance by doing away with legalistic rules, but he affirmed the importance of Sabbath rest. We shouldn’t be workaholics.

Observing the Sabbath has been a part of Bill’s Christian life since his first job as a dishwasher—a job he was ultimately fired from because he wouldn’t work Sunday mornings. Bill observed the Sabbath through college and graduate school—and even on Capitol Hill and in the White House. It can be hard to do, but the Lord knows we need rest.

But the rest is so we can work, not the other way around. People who work hard for their career so they can enjoy “golden years” of hobbies, sunning, travel, and a perfect lawn have perverted the relationship between rest and work.

Rest is a cessation of our usual work, precisely so we are better equipped to work again. That’s part of the reason a sedentary office worker’s Sabbath may look different than a carpenter’s—what constitutes rest may look different for each of us. The key is that we’re ceasing work to focus on God and recharge our batteries. Think of the Sabbath as a time to sharpen the saw so we are equipped to serve.

And to be clear, work doesn’t have to result in a paycheck. Perhaps you’ve spent your career in the classroom, and your retirement is doing volunteer work at your church or hospital, or civic center. The key is that we are serving others through our work, paid or not.

Bill’s father spent the last year of his life in assisted living during COVID. He told Bill he wondered why he was still alive at eighty-eight years old with little discernible purpose, but Bill told him that everyone who entered his room was another person to whom he could minister.

Our words of encouragement and admonition, and instruction are a form of work, pleasing to the Lord when done for him. We have met many exemplars through our participation in the global “generosity community” who are dedicating their time and talent toward intentional kingdom-building endeavors in what would normally be their retirement years.

The creativity, enthusiasm, meaning, and joy that they experience are contagious! “Retirement” should represent the redeployment of our resources, skills, and service, not the end of it.

Editor’s note: This article has been adapted with permission from the authors’ book, Stewards, Not Owners: The Joy of Aligning Your Money with Your Faith, which is available to purchase here.