Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
Piper: ‘Work Is a Glorious Thing’
Piper: ‘Work Is a Glorious Thing’
Mar 18, 2025 5:23 AM

At Desiring God, John Piper explains how both the act and product of work are blessings, and that the God-designed essence of work is creativity — “not aimless, random doing, but creative, productive doing.”

In addition to avoiding the hump of idleness, this means being ever diligent, discerning, obedient, and energetic in the work of our hands:

When the book of Proverbs tells us to go to the ant and learn how to work hard and work smart (Proverbs 6:6–11), and when Paul tells us to “work heartily, as for the Lord” (Colossians 3:23), they are not cursing us. They are pointing to our glory and our joy…

…Work is a glorious thing. If you are starting to grow lazy, I summon you back to joy. God made us to work. He formed our minds to think and our hands to make. He gave us strength — little or great — to be about the business of altering the way things are.

That is what work is: seeing the world, thinking of how it could be better, and doing something — from the writing of a note to the building of a boat; from the sewing of what you wear to the praying of a prayer.

Come, leave off sloth and idleness. e what you were made to be. Work.

Read more here.

To join theOn Call in munity, like us onFacebookor follow us onTwitter.

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
Trump and Celebrities: A Beautiful Moment for the Natural Law
Last night I watched the latest episode of The Apprentice: Celebrity Edition. I have been pulled into the series this year largely because of pelling finishes where The Donald lectures celebrities about their work habits and managerial ineptness. Dennis Rodman has been a draw because of his incredibly bad behavior. This was Dennis’ week. His teammates chose him to be the project manager because they hoped he would rise to the challenge if he was running things. It worked, for...
PBR: The Virtue of Sport
From the question of performance-enhancing drugs to antitrust issues in the BCS, government involvement in professional sports is mon occurrence nowadays. Then-President-elect Obama said that he would favor a playoff system for Division I college football and that he would “throw” his weight around a little bit in pursuit of that agenda. Congress recently announced plans to take up the question of antitrust issues with the BCS. The powerful influence of professional sports on today’s culture plex questions about the...
PBR: Magazines Meriting Mention
In the midst of declining revenues, petition from digital sources of information, and new costs associated with distribution, a number of print magazines have launched in recent months. This is noteworthy, in part because it attests to a disruption in the narrative of digital progress that sees print as an obsolete medium. The New York Post reported that magazine advertising revenues were down 21.5% in the first quarter of 2009 (compared with Q12008). Here’s a rundown of some notable publications...
PBR: A Healthy Appreciation
Fr. Kevin’s talk raised a number of questions about the status of sports in our society. Here are some of them: Have we lost a healthy sense of leisure and play, to the point where sport and entertainment have e similar to a religious ritual or duty?Is the desire to win at all costs inherent to sports? What’s the point of playing a game if not to win?Why don’t religious leaders criticize athletes who cheat, such as flopping Italian soccer...
Thoughts on Higher Education, Christian and Otherwise
I’ve posted a reflection on the future of higher education, with a particular emphasis on the Christian universities, over at the Touchstone Magazine Mere Comments blog. Catch it here. Here’s a clip: The economic downturn has had a substantial impact on colleges and universities. The first shoe dropped when endowments everywhere took big hits from a rapidly falling market. When endowments go underwater, they produce no e and generally can’t be touched. The other shoe will drop when we see...
PBR: Institutionalized Citizen Journalism?
It is our pleasure to e guest ramblings on the PowerBlog, and we are happy to feature this contribution from Jonathan Petersen, former Sr. Dir. of Corporate & Internet Communications at Zondervan. His 22 years at the international book and Bible publisher included directing public relations, munications, and marketing strategy for general retail stores, direct mail, and the Internet. Prior to Zondervan, he was founding religion news editor and anchor for United Press International Radio Network. A member of the...
Philadelphia Society and New Orleans, Part I
The Philadelphia Society’s New Orleans meeting has concluded. This was my first time to be invited. I have some impressions to report about both the society and the town. For this post, I’ll focus on New Orleans. If I can judge from the French Quarter and the rush hour traffic, New Orleans is back. The downtown area was absolutely hopping and it wasn’t Mardi Gras time. I’ve never seen an American city other than NYC with so much night life....
The Philadelphia Society and New Orleans, Part II
This year’s national meeting of the Philadelphia Society was my first. William Campbell of LSU invited me (a young-ish faculty member of Houston Baptist University) after reading a piece I wrote on libertarians and conservatives for the Acton Institute. I am very thankful for the opportunity and enjoyed the event very much. The list of attendees was really quite impressive and people were generally interested in and open to others. At each meal I sat with a different group of...
British Religious Faith and the End of the Slave Trade
We as Americans are very proud of our history. We admire our forefathers who took a stand for liberty to found this great nation, but it would be unwise, as her former colonists, for Americans to overlook the British contribution to human freedom following the events of 1776. Doing so will allow us to understand more fully the role of religion and freedom in our own society. The beginning of the 19th century was a tumultuous time for those who...
Acton Commentary: An Ode to Power
“Power permits people to do enormous good,” Lord Acton once said, “and absolute power enables them to do even more.” This wisdom from the nineteenth-century’s champion of state prerogative applies as well today. Politicians are crippled by the lack of the one thing they need to yank our hobbled economy out of the mire of recession: adequate power. It is our duty to grant it to them. Yes, from time to time mentary space has been critical of government meddling...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved