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Psalm 127 (NIV)
A song of ascents. Of Solomon.
1 Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain. 2 In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat— for he grants sleep to those he loves. 3 Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him. 4 Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth. 5 Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their opponents in court.
Work is good. God gave Adam and Eve work to do in the Garden of Eden (Gen. 1:28). They were to do the “work” of procreation and care for the Garden and animals in it. But well before they received their job description, God was already at work! Throughout the Bible, God is working, usually doing the work of salvation (see Exodus). Ultimately God’s work is seen in the cross where Jesus, this perfect God-man takes our sin upon Himself, buries it in the grave and rises to defeat death. God’s work saves us and saves our work, too. What if in your “work” you focused more on people than getting things done? What if the most important “work” you could do was building stronger relationships of mercy and love? This is why the Psalm talks about children! What “work” is more fun than producing children?! But you don’t have to produce kids to do Kingdom “work”.