The Profit of Hard Work

Proverbs 14:23 proclaims an important work-life principle: “In all labor there is profit.” Or as the translation called The Message puts it, “Hard work always pays off.”  The verse promises that diligent effort under the blessings of God will always be profitable.

The “profit” that God’s Word speaks of is the result of your work when you are finished. It is the fruit of your labor, the gain that comes from your toil.  For many of us that profit arrives via our pay check. And pay checks are good and big pay checks are even better. But the profit that comes from our work does not have to be limited to monetary gain.

Here’s what I mean. A teacher receives a pay check but the minds of his or her students’ are enlightened. The farmer sells his crops and receives money, but people get to eat. Carpenters, electricians and plumbers build a house and a family has a home. Those in the medical profession bring healing, the police protect, and designers make things beautiful and functional.

Our goal in work should be to bring glory to God and good to other people. In this way the profit from our hard work can be realized not only immediately but also for years. Your work can become a blessing to your employer, your family, your co-workers, your customers, your neighbors and even to people you may never meet. We can be assured that the profit will come—somehow, somewhere, someday to somebody. How can we be assured of this? God promised!

Make the decision to see your work as bigger than the work at hand or the pay check at the end of the week. Whether you are getting paid to work or you are a volunteer providing an act of service; whether your work seems insignificant or unappreciated, God sees what you are doing. “Hard work always pays off.” That’s a promise you can take to the bank.