According to the United States Department of Labor, “Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.
It was in 1884 that the first Monday in September was selected as the holiday, as originally proposed, and the Central Labor Union urged similar organizations in other cities to follow the example of New York and celebrate a “workingmen’s holiday” on that date. The idea spread with the growth of labor organizations, and in 1885 Labor Day was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country.
Today Labor Day in America is celebrated with food and fun with family and friends and shopping sales. Labor Day was put in to effect by our country to celebrate and honor the American worker. This day was set aside for the nation to be able to affirm and acknowledge that they knew that America had become the great nation that it was because of the work ethic and integrity of the American who worked in the fields, in industries, in education, in medicine, and so on.
The ability to labor and the willingness to accept the responsibility to do so is a gift of our Creator God.
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him;male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Genesis 1:26-28
Of course after the fall that gift of work and responsibility became a little more laborious…
Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’;
Cursed is the ground because of you;
In toil you will eat of it
All the days of your life.
“Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you;
And you will eat the plants of the field;
By the sweat of your face
You will eat bread,
Till you return to the ground,
Because from it you were taken;
For you are dust,
And to dust you shall return.”
Genesis 3:17-19
Because Adam chose to listen to the words of his wife who had been deceived by Satan instead of obeying the words that he himself had heard straight from God, sin entered the world. Sin brings death and that death also included the death of the earth and things of the earth. Everything that we can see with our physical eyes or touch with our physical hands is dying or already dead.
Before sin there was only enjoyment in caring for the earth that God created because there was never a fear of death creeping in and destroying the work of your hands. After the fall it was no longer just cultivating the growth but fighting to keep it alive. After the fall came the times when you worked for months and even years to get something exactly right and you could actually enjoy the fruit of your labors to have a locust attack, a drought, a fire, a thief, a murderer come in and destroy it or you right before your eyes. Then all that you worked for was gone.
This is why King Solomon wrote:
I enlarged my works: I built houses for myself, I planted vineyards for myself; I made gardens and parks for myself and I planted in them all kinds of fruit trees; I made ponds of water for myself from which to irrigate a forest of growing trees. I bought male and female slaves and I had home born slaves. Also I possessed flocks and herds larger than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. Also, I collected for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I provided for myself male and female singers and the pleasures of men—many concubines.
Then I became great and increased more than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. My wisdom also stood by me. All that my eyes desired I did not refuse them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart was pleased because of all my labor and this was my reward for all my labor. Thus I considered all my activities which my hands had done and the labor which I had exerted, and behold all was vanity and striving after wind and there was no profit under the sun.
Ecclesiastes 2:1-11
Thus I hated all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun, for I must leave it to the man who will come after me. And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the fruit of my labor for which I have labored by acting wisely under the sun. This too is vanity. Therefore I completely despaired of all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun. When there is a man who has labored with wisdom, knowledge and skill, then he gives his legacy to one who has not labored with them. This too is vanity and a great evil. For what does a man get in all his labor and in his striving with which he labors under the sun? Because all his days his task is painful and grievous; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is vanity.
Ecclesiastes 2:18-23
What King Solomon realized is that if we labor for the things of this world and for our own pleasures and glory we will spend our lives being miserable and unsatisfied. Yet, labor in itself is good.
Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat, to drink and enjoy oneself in all one’s labor in which he toils under the sun during the few years of his life which God has given him; for this is his reward.
Ecclesiastes 5:18
It’s not the labor that is in vain it is rather the what we are laboring for and the why of our labor. Work is a gift from God. The ability to know that we are gifted with minds and bodies that are all uniquely qualified for certain tasks and when we put them at work together we can see amazing and satisfying results is indeed a gift of God. It is a beautiful expression of His image that we are created in.
God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.
Genesis 1:31 – 2:2
There is something about completion that gives us rest that satisfies. Having a thought or vision of something and starting it and seeing it completed brings a sense of well being in our souls that causes us to step back and take a deep breathe and simply, at least for the moment, be still. Just like our Creator God, our Heavenly Father did in the beginning and just as our Lord Jesus did on the cross when He said it is finished.
So if we labor after things and for the admiration of man we will never be satisfied with our labor and we will never rest. There are always more things and man is fickle. This world is like a bottomless pit and it doesn’t matter how much effort you dump into it, it is never full. Just think of the simplest thing like our current technology. Before you even know how to utilize all the amenities of your new smart phone, an announcement comes out that the one in your hand is outdated and there is bigger and better available.
If we labor for things we labor in vain. If we labor for ourselves we labor in vain. However, if we labor for the honor and glory of God we labor with purpose.
In Luke 10:2 we read of Jesus speaking to His disciples,
And He was saying to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.
Then in the book of Colossians Paul writes,
We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.
In the beginning God began His work and on the sixth day He completed all His work and then He rested. Our Creator God worked to complete not compete. He has called us to do the very same thing.
This labor day I challenge you to stop and evaluate your heart and your labors. Why do you do what you do?
- Do you see a point of completion in your endeavors or is it a never ending striving after something that can never be finished?
- At the end of your days will you be able to say that you have not labored in vain?
- Is the goal of your labors to compete with those you see to have more of and in this world than you or is it to complete the present task that has been set before you?
- Do you labor for the glory and honor of God or for yourself?
- Are you laboring in the fields of God to see others complete in Christ?
- What would change in your life and in your home if you worked to complete with God instead of compete with man?