I’m not sure exactly how you celebrated Labor Day this year. Many of us look at this day as the last chance to enjoy summer activities with friends and family. My wife and I love to invite students over to our house, many of whom are away from home for the first time. We grill burgers, organize games, and encourage water sports so everyone can get to know each other as they begin (or continue) their academic journey. Labor Day celebrates what many of us do every other Monday: go to work. It is right to do this because it is an honor to work and use our skills and efforts towards something useful. In fact, God designed us to work right from the beginning.
Created to Work
In the first chapters of Genesis, we read of God’s amazing creative work in six days. We also read that man (male and female) was created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27) and given responsibility to oversee and steward the world God had created. In Genesis 2:15, before the appearance of sin and evil, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it” (NIV).
God created everything, including humanity. He also entrusted those made in His image with meaningful responsibility. It gave purpose and meaning to their existence. This was and still is the intention of our work, which we celebrate. Like God, we as image bearers are creators and workers, and the world gives evidence of the results of those efforts.
There is an Urgency to Work
I’ve had projects last for weeks because my heart just wasn’t in it, and I lacked the dedication. On the other hand, when someone prepares to go away for a couple of weeks, it is amazing what can be accomplished when the deadline is imminent, and it must be done! (This could be a result of sleep deprivation, also!) Jesus spoke about the limited time to get work done as well. He stated, “As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming when no one can work” (John 9:4, NIV).
I find encouragement in Christ’s words to prioritize our labor. There is an urgency to some work and not other work due to the importance of the task itself. Jesus cut through the clutter of business by instructing those present that “His Father” had work to be done, which was more important than other work, and the time was limited to accomplish it. Think about that for a minute. We have finite time to accomplish eternal work while we endeavor to make a living and do our daily tasks. It is limited because we interact with others for only a brief time. Neighbors move away, family members pass on, and work associates change jobs. God’s work is our witness and service for Him in the midst of our everyday lives.
God’s Grace Gives Us Calling to Good Work
The Apostle Paul gave an amazing explanation of how each of us comes to receive salvation apart from our own efforts and turns us from rebellion into saints in Ephesians 2. We’re familiar with verses 8-9, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast” (NIV). What an amazing reality this is, based solely on God’s amazing grace!
Then we read in the very next verse that the result of God’s grace is that we are the work of God, “…created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10, NIV). We celebrate our labor because it was for work that we were created and re-created by grace! Work gives us dignity and meaning. It does NOT define who we are, but it gives us the purpose to live out who we are.
Our identity:
We are image bearers representing our Creator’s work and stewarding His creation.
We are believers in the work of Christ on the cross and ‘graced’ to do good work.
What a blessing it is to celebrate the meaningful duties given to us to participate in as “fellow-workers” (1 Corinthians 3:9) in the eternal work of God. Please pray and partner with us in the work of God at Grace Christian University this Fall as we prepare students to be God’s workers in our world for a new generation.
Laboring with you,
Ken B. Kemper
President
