Work Shortage
Commit your work to the LORD, and your plans will be established. Proverbs 16:3
There appears to be a work problem in our nation (at least in the state of Pennsylvania).
This is not a shortage of jobs, nor is it a lack of the proper educational qualifications, and it is not a shortage of people who could fill the open positions.
From recent reading and conversations, apparently, it is a shortage of people who actually want to work once they have been hired. Either they want to set their own hours or they do not understand that the job they are filling is not all about them, but about their employer accomplishing the tasks that he/she has hired them to do.
The complaint I heard from one employer was about getting people to just show up regularly in a business that works with strict deadlines. They understand that someone might get ill but said they were dealing more with attitudes of, “I got a better offer for today.” They want to take time off to see friends or sleep in.
Their real surprise is that these young people do not know that this is unacceptable behavior to an employer.
It seems that, as parents, we may have dropped the ball on this generation. Apparently, we did not expect enough from them. If they did a job sloppily, we let it go. We didn’t want to correct them because we were told it would harm their self-esteem.
The school system also gave them a pass. Teachers set due dates but took any excuse (at least from my kids) to extend it or give them another way to get the credit rather than complete an assignment on time.
I look back and remember hearing about mothers who would do a job for a child rather than put up with the back-talk for trying to keep them at it. That tells me that the discipline was lost at an early age. If they did not respect their parents what makes us think they would respect the authority of a boss or even of God?
The Bible talks a lot about work, the work of our hands, and the work we accomplish in our families, and in “producing fruit” for the Lord. It says that we will eat from the labor of our hands (Psalm 128:2), and that our work should be committed to the Lord (Proverbs 16:3), and that the one who refuses to work (the sluggard) will be killed by his desires (Proverbs 21:25).
Clearly, from a biblical perspective we should be teaching our children what it means to work and the consequences of not working (or not working well).
The Fourth Commandment, from Exodus 20:9-10(a) says, “Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work.”
So the rest of the Sabbath presupposes working the other six days. Have we taught that to our children? Teaching children to work means persistence, patience, and perseverance. Now, that is some work to commit to the Lord! As parents, it is all part of the job.
Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. Colossians 3:23-24