Why not worship work?
What does it mean to worship work? It means prioritizing work over everything, including God and family. It means lying, cheating and betraying everyone, including family and friends to earn more or to get ahead. It means missing your spouse’s and children’s birthday celebrations and other special occasions because you have important things to do at work.
Although we may justify worshiping work as doing our responsibility to provide for our families, there are many reasons why we should guard against this.
The most important reason is success can disappoint.
Success is usually defined as attaining riches or fame or both. Admittedly, there are many benefits to attaining riches and fame such as greater convenience, financial security, having more choices, and connections which theoretically should lead to a happier life. However, successful people are not always happy.
For example, financially successful people may have more than enough to travel anywhere they want. However, they might not be travelling because they don’t know anyone they enjoy travelling with.
Successful people can also be lonely. Although famous people might have a lot of admirers or fans, they might have a hard time making friends because most of the people who are nice are only there to take advantage of them.
It is not surprising then why so many successful people are unhappy. Usually, the dream is better than the reality of being successful.
Another reason why we shouldn’t worship work is because life is not fair.
When we were young, we were taught that if we were smart, talented and hardworking, we would succeed in life. However, once we start working, we realize that many less talented people who don’t work as hard become more successful. Sometimes, luck or being in the right place at the right time matter more than our abilities.
We were also taught to be honest and to follow the rules when we were young. However, there are many dishonest people who lie, cheat and steal who get ahead because of their shrewdness. Even worse, they often get away with it.
Finally, we shouldn’t worship work because when we die, someone undeserving might inherit our riches and squander them.
This is the reason for the adage “Shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations.” It is a fact that most families squander their wealth by the third generation. There is also an abundance of anecdotes about families who lose their wealth by the second generation as their children have more lavish lifestyles but are not as good in earning money.
How do we avoid worshiping work?
Realize that riches and fame won’t bring happiness. Instead, focus on doing what we are good at and really love to do. This is because God made us special in different ways, so it makes sense for us to do what he created us to do.
For example, school teachers might not earn a lot or be famous, but they are happy when they inspire students to become responsible adults who give back to the society.
Musical artists also don’t earn a lot, but they get happiness and fulfillment when their audience is entertained by their performance.
Although being dishonest might reward us financially, it might not make us happy, especially if we realize that our dishonesty could backfire as people at work and our family also repay us with dishonesty.
Remember also that we will all die, and this can happen anytime. Would we still want to do what we are doing right now if we knew that our days are numbered? Maybe we would spend more time with family and friends, be content with less, and be more generous to those in need. We would also be nicer to our colleagues at work and in business, always pursuing a win-win situation.
Finally, we should try to be happy with the present, and not always thinking about the future.
Admittedly, focusing on immediate gratification is not good as we need to make sacrifices to have a more secure future. However, focusing too much on the future is also not good. Sometimes, we don’t know how to be happy today because we keep on comparing ourselves with others who seem to be living a better life.
Sometimes, we just need to count our blessings and be happy and content with whatever we already have, especially if we already have more than enough and have achieved the goals we made when we were younger.
