My Answer

on Nov 7, 2026

From the writings of the Rev. Billy Graham

Q: How troubling it is to listen to leaders who want our country to become a nanny state, discouraging young people from learning the importance of hard work and responsibility. Doesn’t the Bible have a lot to say about laziness? – N.W.

A: Jesus had a great deal to say about labor (work). He was interested in common people. The Bible says, “The common people heard Him gladly” (Mark 12:37, NKJV). In fact, Jesus Himself was a laboring man. He was a carpenter. Wouldn’t you like to have been able to spend a day in Joseph’s little shop and to watch Jesus use the hammer and saw?

Sometimes we forget that Jesus was human as well as divine. He had calluses on His hands. If the chisel slipped and cut His fingers, His blood would be red and warm like ours. He knew what it meant to work long hours, to come in at night tired and weary. That is one of the reasons why Jesus could say, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28, NKJV).

Jesus knew that a laboring man needs rest and recreation. The United States celebrates the tremendous contribution that labor is to the American way of life.

But the greatest work that Jesus did was not in the carpenter’s shop, but His work accomplished in three dark hours on the cross at Calvary. There He entered a labor that no other person in all the universe has ever known. His primary purpose in coming to Earth was to die in our place. There is no other way to salvation. Before our conscience can be quieted, before we can be rid of our guilt complex, before we can start life afresh, by faith we must receive this great work done for us by the One who loves us most.

(This column is based on the words and writings of the late Rev. Billy Graham.)