Labor Day is Monday.  What do you have planned?  What does it mean to you?

Back in the late 1800’s, labor activities pushed for a holiday to recognize the importance of workers in shaping and sustaining America.  They recognized the importance of “work” and wanted the nation to recognize it as well.

Today, many people may have the wrong idea about work.  Some see work as a burden, and some think it is an outcome of Adam and Eve’s original sin.  Some see work as a five-day drudgery leading to a weekend, and some see it as completely separate from what one does on Sundays.

For those of us who claim faith in Jesus, work is completely different (or should be).

God’s original plan for us included work; Adam and Eve were tasked with taking care of the Garden of Eden.  God is the Creator, and He continues to work today; He expects His followers to be like Him in this. Therefore, work is a form of worship.  Our work should point others to God because everything we do should point others to Him.

In your work (at a job, at school, around the house…), do you point others to God?  Do you show gratitude?  Do you imitate Jesus?  Do you serve others?

We read in Colossians 3:23: “Whatever you do, do it from the heart, as something done for the Lord and not for people.”  Whatever you do…  Work has a much bigger purpose than just getting a paycheck.  Work should be part of our living by faith.  Our work should demonstrate the integrity of God that we should show.  Our work should make a difference no matter what it is.

Billy Graham once said that he believed the next great awakening (the next revival that spreads across the nation) will probably occur in the workplace.  That makes total sense when you look at where our churches are.  Fewer people are attending and participating in churches today, but our population is increasing steadily.  The world is not in our church buildings.  The world is everywhere we are – including at work.

So this Labor Day, I hope you enjoy a break.  But I also hope you will recognize the blessing and opportunity that work gives us to make a difference and change our world.  Do it “for the Lord.”  It was and is His plan.