Driven to Deliver
Ecclesiastes 4:6 Better is a handful with quiet than two handfuls with toil, and a chasing after wind.
Can I be blunt today and ask you, are you a workaholic? And if not you, are you married to one? Or is one of your adult children a workaholic? Because speaking from experience, I can tell you, it’s a shocking disease.
According to a joint report by the World Health Organisation and the International Labour Organisation, in 2016 long working hours led to 745,000 additional deaths globally from stroke and ischemic heart disease. That’s 29% more than in 2000 and we can only imagine that the numbers have escalated since then.
According to their research, working 55 hours a week or more, increases the risk of stroke by 35% and of dying from heart disease by 17%, compared to a 35-40 hour week. That’s not a pretty picture.
And the primary reasons for overwork reported by those studied? Employer expectations, deadlines and the need to catch up on workloads.
Add to that people like me (and perhaps you too) who are simply driven to work hard, many of them workaholics, that’s a toxic mix if ever there was one.
So are we just going to keep on with the same old, same old … or seriously, is it time to search our hearts and get to the root of this problem? Is now crunch time? Is now the time to modify your behaviour to save your life and your family?
If, honestly, you’re a workaholic, you have to ask yourself ‘what’s driving me? Success, recognition, money … what?’
Ecclesiastes 4:6 Better is a handful with quiet than two handfuls with toil, and a chasing after wind. (NRSV)
Slow down. Stop chasing the wind. In the end, it’s simply not worth it!
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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