In Recognition of "Labor Day"

Tomorrow we observe a holiday instituted way back in 1882 and two years later it was moved to the first Monday in September. It was to celebrate the working man’s holiday and to honor the accomplishments of the most productive nation on the planet. It was this productivity that gave and gives us the phenomenal standard of living we enjoy in this great country of ours. But hard work is notable not merely for the benefits of capitalism but work actually is a very important part of man’s divine destiny.

In the first book of the bible God takes Adam and places him in the Garden of Eden where Genesis 2 says, “Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.” That’s called work sports fans.

If you’re not familiar with the chronology of history here, the “disobedience of man” with its attendant consequences did not occur until Genesis 3 showing that “work” is not as we are inclined to thinking, a curse, a result of sin but rather is an integral part of God’s created order--an integral part of what makes us "human." Which means that any system of welfare that necessarily eliminates work as part of the equation is not truly beneficial no matter how well intentioned, for it dehumanizes the person denied the opportunity to fulfill God’s plan for their life.

So as you drag yourself out of bed Tuesday morning to assume your God given assignments, remember, that as old as that gets and as nice as some notion of “retirement” may sound, mankind is happiest when he is engaged in productive activity making, fixing, and creating, for we have been made in the image and likeness of a Creator who Himself worked six days, and rested on the seventh. Remember to do the same!