Labor In Vain?
Weekly devotional by Barbara Sanders

Psalms 127:1 <> Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh [but] in vain. {for…: or, of Solomon} {that…: Heb. that are builders of it in it}

Monday is Labor Day. Many of us will be getting together with friends and family for reunions or picnics. Some are gone on vacation, since there is an extra day attached to the weekend days. We ‘labor’ to get all the necessary food prepared, and collecting all the tableware, napkins and plates for the picnic. It’s a chore even to try and decide what the menu will be. Simplicity used to be the key to Labor Day you bought meat to barbecue, period!! There was no thought put into it; it was simply a day for barbecuing with the family. The menu was simply barbecue, potato salad, baked beans, iced tea, and bread! The ‘labor’ was one of love. We took turns over the hot barbecue pit (not a gas one!) in order to get the meat done exactly the way we loved it. But, life has changed families have changed, and so the holiday for lots has changed, as well. We ‘labor’ to get our house in order for expected visitors. It’s RUSH to get the floors mopped and vacuumed, the beds made, the clothes washed and ironed, and all the clutter picked up and thrown ‘some place’! It’s work, work, work, just for a few hours of enjoyment. But, have we reduced the holiday to WORK rather than enjoyment? Are we ‘laboring in vain’? In our spiritual lives, we sometimes ‘labor in vain’. We do things ‘our way’, never considering God. We build upon OUR ways and thoughts, rather than submitting to the Lord. We sometimes make life itself a burden, simply because we take the cares of this life upon ourselves. We try to enrich our lives and those of our family with material goods, without giving God the praise for having let us accumulate those goods. We never stop to thank Him for the job that gives us the means by which to live comfortably. Although our pay seems to be in line, we seldom have enough because God was not given the credit for our prosperity. On this LABOR DAY, let us remember to give thanks to the Most High God the One Who has given us the ability to get wealth, the One Who has supplied our needs according to His riches in Glory and Whom, by His stripes, we were healed, when He hung on the Cross of Calvary. Let Him enrich our lives daily, by giving Him thanks and praise! Your labor will then ‘not be in vain’.