Employment
Overview
Employment is a necessary part of our lives on Earth; it gives us the means to provide for our families. Parents are required by God to provide for their families. “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” says that “fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families … fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners. Disability, death, or other circumstances may necessitate individual adaptation.”
Work is an important gospel principle. It fosters growth and develops us. God condemns idleness and encourages us to “do many good things of our own free will” (Doctrine and Covenants 58:27). The Lord not only wants us to provide for our families but to be “anxiously engaged in a good cause” (Doctrine and Covenants 58:27). Good employment is important for us to better provide for our families and to serve faithfully in the Church.
From the very beginning, the Lord commanded Adam to till the earth and have dominion over the beasts of the field, to eat his bread by the sweat of his brow. “I have always been interested in how often the scriptures have admonished us to cease to be idle and to be productive in all of our labors. … Teaching children the joy of honest labor is one of the greatest of all gifts you can bestow upon them” (L. Tom Perry, “The Joy of Honest Labor,” Ensign, Nov. 1986).
“Let us realize that the privilege to work is a gift, that the power to work is a blessing, that the love of work is success” (David O. McKay, Pathways to Happiness [1957], 381).
Related Topics
Scriptures
Scripture References
Scripture Study Resources
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Topical Guide, “Industry, Industrious,” “Skill,” “Work,” “Work, Value of”
Messages from Church Leaders
Videos
“A New Light About Him”
“Fast Offerings—The Jerry Foote Family”
“Johnny’s Story”
Learning Resources
General Resources
“Work and Self-Reliance,” For the Strength of the Youth
Earning Your Daily Bread, Employment Services
Surviving Unemployment, Employment Services
“Happiness in Family Life,” ChurchofJesusChrist.org
The Career Workshop, LatterDaySaintJobs.org
Job Search Tips, LatterDaySaintJobs.org
Church Magazines
Edgar Tooley, “Job Hunting According to Nephi,” Ensign, February 2013
“Helping Marriage Survive Unemployment: Seven Principles,” Ensign, April 2004
Joy K. Young, “Surviving Unemployment,” Ensign, February 1991
Study Manuals
Media
Audio
“Gerald N. Lund,” Conversations, episode 38
“Elder Ben B. Banks,” Conversations, episode 41