And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened

unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which

I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the

ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days

of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to

thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of

thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground;

for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust

shalt thou return (Gen. 3:17-19).

Adam had a really bad day. Really bad days were his legacy to

all of us. It could have been worse. "But of the tree of the

knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the

day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" (Gen. 2:17).

Adam did not escape responsibility for his act of rebellion. Even

though he was tempted by his wife, he could not successfully

transfer the responsibility of his action to her, thereby

allowing her to take all of the blame for their joint rebellion.

God cursed at him in three ways. First, He cursed the ground.

Second, He cursed Adam's labor. Third, He condemned Adam to

death. All three of these curses are interrelated. All three

affect the way that mankind has worked ever since.

Even though the curse of death was specifically imposed on Adam,

it was also imposed on Eve. Even though the curse of the ground

was imposed on Adam to make his work more burdensome, the same

curse affects Eve. Even though Adam was cursed to work by the

sweat of his brow, the same curse affects Eve. Because Adam was

in authority over Eve, she bore the curses imposed on Adam.

Because creation was under the authority of Adam, it bears the

curse of the ground. This is a fundamental biblical principle:

those under the authority of a rebel suffer the consequences

of his rebellion. It is like a nation that suffers a military

defeat because of the incompetence of its military leaders. The

civilians suffer.

God cursed the ground for Adam's sake. He did this in order to

make Adam's labor more difficult. Adam would henceforth struggle

with thorns and thistles. The only way not to struggle with

thorns and thistles is to go into a line of work not associated

with agriculture. But every line of work as the equivalent of

thorns and thistles.

God cursed the ground in order to force Adam to work very hard.

In the garden, the fruit was available for the taking. That was

the problem with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. So,

God made it more difficult for Adam. He understood that Adam was

now a sinner. Mankind has a proclivity toward evil. The more

leisure that men have, the more they are likely to pursue evil

pursuits. We know of the phrase, "the devil loves idle hands."

The origin of this piece of folk wisdom comes from God's curse of

the ground because of Adam's sin. From that point on, Adam would

have to spend more time working then sinning.

Not only was the ground cursed, Adam's body was cursed. He would

sweat. This meant that labor would no longer be a pleasure for

Adam.

In the garden, there was no burden associated with labor. There

was nothing wrong with work. The dominion covenant (Gen. 1:26-28)

was given to Adam, not as a curse, but as a benefit. The idea

that work is a joy comes from the Garden of Eden. Work is not a

curse; work has been cursed.

We understand this with respect to the birth of a child. We call

the period of pain that the woman experiences "labor." This was

the explicit curse on Eve (Gen. 3:16). There is no suggestion or

even hint in the Bible that giving birth would have been painful

had mankind not sinned. Similarly, there is no suggestion or even

hint in the Bible that work prior to the Fall of man was a

burden.

Men should no more hate the idea of going to work than women

should hate the idea of bearing children. When men hate the idea

of going to work, we can be sure that women will hate the idea of

bearing children. Both attitudes are part of man's rebellion

against God.

Men and women alike hate the curses under which they operate.

They resent the fact that they should bear these burdens. But

they do not resent the fact that God did not kill mankind on the

day that Adam and Eve sinned. They enjoy the sinning, but they do

not like the consequences.

A MUCH-HATED JOB

If a man is in an occupation that he hates, he is under a curse.

He should do whatever he can to find a line of work which is more

suited to his tastes and his skills. He should find work in which

he can enthusiastically go to work and give his best efforts.

When he does this, he is far more likely to increase his income.

This increase in his income will be paralleled by an increase in

his level of personal responsibility. There is never an increase

in benefits in this life apart from a corresponding increase in

responsibility. We are supposed to increase our level of

responsibility.

And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and

prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be

beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit

things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For

unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and

to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more

(Luke 12:47-48).

When a man resents the fact that he has to go to work to earn a

living, he will tend to resent the assignments given to him by

his superior. When he resents the assignments given to him, he is

likely to be a poor performer on the job. When he is a poor

performer on the job, he will find that his subordinates do not

trust him, and his superiors do not trust them. He finds that he

is unable to advance in his career. He cannot increase his level

of responsibility.

FINANCE AND RESPONSIBILITY

This is a part of finance. Finance has to do with a person's

ability to increase his income. In order to increase his income,

he must be willing to accept an increase in responsibility.

People who resent the work they do find that they do not perform

well enough to get a promotion. They may want the promotion. They

may believe that they will be happy in a new job. They may even

say that they would like to bear the responsibilities associated

with a different and higher occupation. They want to get

promoted. They want to get a raise. They may even want to

increase their level of responsibility. But they are not willing

to pay the price of these goals. They have counted the cost, and

they are not willing to pay the price. They want something -- a

promotion -- for nothing: poor performance today.

When men resent their work, they will tend to bring home their

bad attitude to their families. They resent the fact that they do

not have much money, but they are unwilling to pay the price to

earn more money. Their wives resent this, but there is not much

they can do about it. The problem is not that their husbands are

unable to earn more money. The problem is that their husbands are

unable to master the task that they have been given. They are

unable or unwilling to demonstrate to their superiors and their

subordinates that they are competent performers in their jobs.

Some men may be competent in their jobs, and yet they hate their

jobs. Even in this case, when the income seems to be high, a

man's potential is limited. It is limited by his unwillingness to

take a risk, quit his job, and take another job.

The new job may require a cut in pay initially. He may be in

debt, so he cannot accept this job. Similarly, the job may

involve being transferred to a new city. He may be unable to sell

his house for enough money to pay off the mortgage. He may find

that the rental income that the house will generate if he moves

away will not cover the expenses of maintaining the house, paying

the mortgage, and paying property taxes.

Under these circumstances, he loses mobility. He loses mobility

because he is in debt. If he were not in debt, he could take

advantage of the opportunities presented to him. Because he

cannot take a damage of these opportunities, he limits his level

of responsibility. He blocks off access to new levels of

responsibility, which will be accompanied by higher income.

This is another reason why couples have should pay careful

attention to their budgets. They must limit their debts. One of

the most important reasons for limiting your debt is that you do

not want to hamper your mobility. This may be mobility in terms

of a career, and it may be mobility in terms of geography. The

more debt you have, the less mobile you are.

If a man finds that his work is a burden to him, he must either

find a new career or get a promotion. I suppose he can also get a

demotion, but almost nobody ever thinks of this. You do not hear

sergeants complaining about their level of responsibility,

telling other sergeants that what they really want is to be

demoted to corporal.

The curse of the ground, like the curse of our bodies, is to make

our work more difficult. We are now tested by God to see how we

will perform in difficult situations. Usually, increased debt

limits our performance on the job. Unless the debt is used to buy

improved tools or get a better education, the debt hampers our

careers. This is why it is important that husbands and wives make

budgets and stick to them. The self-discipline involved in making

a budget and sticking to it is likely to transfer to other areas

of their lives.