Pastor Eric Appah Marfo of the Resurrection Power and Living Bread Ministries International, Cape Coast, at the weekend entreated Christians to eschew laziness and embrace hard work.

“We can never avoid work. Human civilisation has been built on work, the labour of many billions of people throughout history has created the cities, farms, industries, armies and infrastructure, which have marked our time on the planet,” he added.

Pastor Marfo, who was preaching on the topic: “Work is a good thing,” quoted from Genesis 2:15, which captured God putting Adam in the Garden of Eden and charging him to work and take care of it.

This means that, Adam was supposed to put efforts into place to overcome obstacles and achieve good results. In effect, God wanted Adam to usefully invest a measure of energy into the garden to improve upon its state and make sure it did not lose its value.

Pastor Marfo explained that work brought out the best in us and improved upon our thinking and analytical prowess. It helped us to think on our feet and to become problem solvers.

“Work is one of the effective ways to exercise one’s mind. It helps you build the capacity to stand tough situations, build confidence and self-esteem, and even rewards us financially. Hard work pays and so any nation or people who fear hard work, has automatically chosen to live in poverty. That’s the law of nature.”

“Working keeps us busy, gives us a sense of purpose and importance, identity and personal achievement; enables us to socialise, build contacts and find support,” he added.

“Our physical and mental health is generally improved through work – we recover from sickness quicker and are at less risk of long-term illness and incapacity.

“Being out of work has a negative impact on your health and wellbeing. People who are unemployed have higher rates of physical and mental health problems.

“Returning to work after a period of unemployment results in significant physical and mental health improvements, reversing the negative health effects of unemployment.”

Pastor Marfo said “anytime you are deciding on the type of work to do, ask yourself if that job would earn you an honest living or it would end up ridding people of their joy and security.

“Move away from any job that you know you can’t be proud enough to discuss with other people”.