Who are You Laboring for?

Happy Labor Day! On today or all days when we celebrate the social and economic achievements of American workers, it’s appropriate to take a step back to look at who we have been laboring for.  Of course, we work so that we can eat and take care of our families (2 Th 3:11). God created us to have dominion and to take care of that with which we’ve been blessed (Gen 1:28). We have a job to do, however, we much evaluate who we’re working for. Are we working for ourselves or for some boss or are we working for the Lord? 

Taking a look at the Apostle Paul, while he was going on missionary journeys and leading Gentiles to Christ everywhere he went, he was still making tents to support his life (Acts 18:1-4). He was not dependent upon the church to take care of him. He wanted everyone to be clear that he was not there to take from them but that he was on a mission from God to introduce and preach the Gospel to those who did not know Jesus. He was about the Lord’s business. Are you? 

So I pose the question again – who are YOU working for? Are you on the throne or is Jesus? When was the last time you introduced someone to Jesus? Do you talk about the good news of Jesus in your workplace? Do you share the love of Christ at the grocery store? Do you bless those around you as you go about your way? We are be salt and light in the world (Matt 5:13-16). If we are not introducing those around us to the good news of Jesus, what are we doing? 

If we know Jesus, we are citizens of Heaven (Phil 3:20).  We’re just visiting this world. Life in this place is so short, we have maybe a century (at the most) here and then we’re gone. What will we be able to point to when we’re asked what we’ve been doing all these years (Rom 14:12)? Will we be able to point to souls we’ve pointed to Christ? Will we be able to point to someone we’ve helped along the way? If not, take steps now. 

We can’t do any work to get into Heaven or to make God love us more (Eph 2:8-9). He sent Jesus to die when we were wrapped up in sin, before we even recognized we needed a savior (John 3:16).  Because we love Him, we should care about the things He cares about. If we don’t, we should reevaluate our love life with Him.  Love is not about feelings we have – they are fickle. Love is about the conscious decisions we make to do for someone else’s good (I Cor 13). It’s putting others ahead of yourself. It’s doing the work. If we don’t love the Lord in such a way, that we put Him first, we’re wasting time that is precious and we’re missing out on the blessing of being intimate with Him. Who are YOU laboring for?