He sometimes worked 365 days a year. Yes, my Uncle Kermit, a dairy farmer for decades, worked virtually every day of his life unless he was sick, and that was rare. He labored in this way as long as he was able from the time he got out of the Navy (World War II) until he died at the age of 95. How do you explain such a work ethic? Why did he almost never take a vacation of even a day during those years? The simple but inadequate explanation is that he was obsessed with his work. But he had a deeper motivation—he loved his work! He was the type of person Paul envisioned when he spoke of the “hard-working farmer” (2 Timothy 2:6).1
This commitment to hard work is exactly what Paul exhorted Timothy to exhibit in his life and ministry. An obsession like this could be wrong, but not when the work itself is commanded by the Lord and when the “farmer” loves what he is doing. In this context (2 Timothy 2:1–7) the Lord is indeed giving a command, for Paul often uses imperatives: “be strong” in verse 1, “entrust these to faithful men” in verse 2, “suffer hardship” in verse 3, and “consider what I say” in verse 7. He is commanding Timothy to follow his example of utter commitment. Paul’s life exemplified an obsessive commitment to see people “obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory” (v. 10).
The work was hard. Uncle Kermit knew the work demanded utter commitment, and that is what he gave. The work was difficult in many ways. It took energy, time, and perseverance. When my grandfather worked to put up silage for the winter at his farm, the equipment would sometimes break down. This was a source of great frustration as my dad and his other brothers were taking time away from their own work to help him, but Uncle Kermit could fix just about anything because he had done it countless times on his own farm. He had learned to overcome frustration not by walking away from the difficulty but by the hard work of fixing the problem. My cousin told me about a typical effort by his dad. When all the daily work of milking had been done, he might go and dig by hand the holes for fence posts to enclose the large pastures for the cows. If he wasn’t eating or sleeping, Kermit was probably working.
The work was work. It was physically difficult, but it was also work in every sense of the word. There was no way to coast. Getting up at 4:00 a.m. every day is work in itself, but making sure the cows are milked and also provided with the water, hay, and silage they need is a relentless pressure. The dairy farmer works literally night (when he begins) and throughout the day. His work includes milking the cows twice a day (the morning milking is only the start), making sure the milk is not contaminated with bacteria (the inspectors do check regularly), and then taking care of the more typical farm activities of growing crops (plowing, fertilizing, harvesting, storing), maintaining machinery, and mending those fences. Sound like work?
The work was loved. Despite being hard and constant work, the life was enjoyable. My uncle could have hired a neighbor to look after milking his cows for a few days so he could have time away for a vacation. But he rarely if ever did. Why? Part of the answer is his work ethic and the fact that cows can be skittish with change, but a bigger part of the answer is that he truly enjoyed his work. Sileage has an invigorating smell, but the other smells around the barn are not so endearing. Nevertheless, Uncle Kermit loved the work and was willing to be in the thick of it, so to speak.
No doubt Paul had all these factors (hardness/difficulty, work, love for the work) in mind as he charged his protégé Timothy to remember the farmer. The man of God must be “prepared” (2 Timothy 2:21) and “equipped” (3:17) “for every good work.” Even evangelism is work, and it is required for the fulfillment of the ministry: “But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry” (4:5).
Above all, the Lord would have the missionary emulate the good farmer and Paul, who both exemplify a love for the work. No one will continue to be faithful until the end who does not love the ministry of the Gospel. Love is the ultimate issue. In the concluding chapter of 2 Timothy, Paul refers to Demas, who spent time with Paul and undoubtedly endured some hardness. That he was Paul’s coworker virtually guarantees that Demas showed a capacity to work hard. But he failed the most important test of love. He forsook the hardness and the work for lack of the third element, love for the work. His motivation was love, but it was a love for “this present world” (4:10).
Surely, we all want to be faithful until the end. How does that happen? It happens when we are willing to endure hardness, when we are willing to do the work required, and when we love the work because we love the Lord of the work.
This article was first published in GFA’s Summer/Fall 2025 issue of Sowing & Reaping.
1 Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from the NASB® New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved.