Labor Day

   When we consider our wonderful country with its God given beauty and abundance, we should be moved, knowing in our hearts that we are blessed.  When we consider our nation's holidays and remembrances like Labor Day, and the order of things, even the relative civility we enjoy, and our great accomplishments like landing a vehicle on Mars that is 33.9 million miles away, these all are a result of man's abilities working together in their daily labor celebrated by Labor Day.  But more than this, it is a testament that man was created a "little lower than the angels,"(Hebrews 2:7) as also evidenced by what God, our Creator, testified to in Genesis 11:6 concerning a "united" people, saying "……nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do."

   Although there is much to be frowned upon in a world fraught with evil and great suffering, the Lord has put governments and their leaders in charge over us to help keep order and punish law breakers (1Peter 2:13-14; Hebrews 13:7). We should also be thankful not only for this, but what this tells us, for all nations are subject to the Lord, just as every living soul on the planet (Matthew. 10:29). This understanding should always cause us to "count our blessings" and as the hymn says, "name them one by one" being ever mindful of what God has done for us.  Our hearts should be thankful, even in the adversity that God permits, which helps us to grow in humility, thereby understanding our dependence on the Lord for our very existence.  Job who suffered greatly afterwards expressed, "I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye sees Thee." (Job 42:5)  How many today have eyes to see the Lord?

   Much of what is expressed above applies to physical blessings…the fruits of our physical labors, gathered by not being "sluggards," but following the example of the hard-working ant (Pr. 6:6).  Labor Day, held on September 2nd honors hard working Americans, who too often, are motivated by the self interest and the benefits of their labors that are embodied in the self interest of Capitalism.  Although hard work is honorable, the focus of mankind and each of us individually should not rest on self and the material, but rather our desire to be pleasing and faithful to God. Our labor and focus should be on the two great commandments that Jesus, our Lord and Savior gave us in Mark 12:30-34

“ And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.  And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he:  And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbor as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
 And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God.” 

   So what is this Kingdom of God?  Concerning what our labors should focus on, Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:33  "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." So our labor should be on doing the will of God. 

Romans 14:17 tells us, “ For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” 

   We must be led by the Holy Spirit, to do the will of God by loving our neighbor as our self as the "Good Samaritan" did, thereby demonstrating our love for God. Listen to the admonition of Eph 4:28,

“Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.”

  If this verse does not escape us, we will indeed as Jesus said be seeking the Kingdom of God, and will be blessed, not only in this time, but in the age to come.   

   Remember Cornelius "whose prayers and alms went up for a memorial before God," (Acts 10:4) and Job, described by God  "that there was none like him on the earth, a perfect and upright man, one that feared God and eschewed evil." Remember what Job expressed concerning why he was blessed in Job 29:12-16
 
   “Because I delivered the poor that cried for help, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him. The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me: and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.  I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment was as a robe and a diadem.  I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame.  I was a father to the poor: and the cause which I knew not I searched out.”

   With our life to soon disappear as a vapor, let us first seek the Kingdom of God, that our labors be not in vain!


                                                                       J DiCesare @CDMI