Bible verses about work and purpose

Whatever you do, work at it with your whole being, as for the Lord and not for men, because you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as your reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

"Work as for the Lord"

So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. For everything is futile and a pursuit of the wind. I hated all for which I had toiled under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who comes after me. And who knows whether that man will be wise or foolish? Yet he will take over all the labor at which I have worked skillfully under the sun. This too is futile. So my heart began to despair over all the labor that I had done under the sun. When there is a man who has labored with wisdom, knowledge, and skill, and he must give his portion to a man who has not worked for it, this too is futile and a great evil. For what does a man get for all the toil and striving with which he labors under the sun? Indeed, all his days are filled with grief, and his task is sorrowful; even at night, his mind does not rest. This too is futile. Nothing…

The Meaning of Work Under the Sun

For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life.

Created for Good Works

There is profit in all labor, but mere talk leads only to poverty.

"Hard Work Brings a Profit"

Then the LORD God took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate and keep it.

Adam Given Work in the Garden

The word of the LORD came to me, saying: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” “Ah, Lord GOD,” I said, “I surely do not know how to speak, for I am only a child!” But the LORD told me: “Do not say, ‘I am only a child.’ For to everyone I send you, you must go, and all that I command you, you must speak. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you,” Then the LORD reached out His hand, touched my mouth, and said to me: “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. See, I have appointed you today over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and plant.”

Jeremiah's Call — "Before I Formed You I Knew You"

For better is one day in Your courts than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life, and have it in all its fullness.