The first occurrence of the word “work” in the Bible was not in relation to man, but was in relation to God Himself. Work is godly because God is the original worker. Laziness is ungodly. Work is foundational because God began everything by working. The very first thing God did for Adam was given him work to do. To get Adam ready for Eve God gave him more work to do. So a man who is not a hard worker is not ready to get married! When Adam disobeyed God, he not only created a sin problem, he also began a character crisis. To deal with that crisis, God increased the amount of work that man had to do. One of the main ways you develop character in children is by training them to be diligent workers using their hands to do hard work.
Hard Work: The Foundation of Character