Number 67: September 3, 2006



Labor Day is a holiday that was started to honor the working class. In 1882 the Knights of Labor held a large parade in New York City. Two years later they decided that a Monday parade would get more attention and they extended an offer for other organizations to join them. In March of 1887, Colorado became the first state to make it a law The United States Congress in 1894 made it a legal national holiday.



Work was actually initiated by God with the first man Adam.



Genesis 2:15:

And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.



God gave Adam a job in the Garden of Eden. If the Garden of Eden was to continue being a garden of paradise, Adam was to work to maintain it. After they sinned, work got a little tougher.



Genesis 3:16-19:

Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow [labor] and thy conception; in sorrow [labor] thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.

And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow [labor, toil] shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;

Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.



The Hebrew word translated sorrow means labor, toil, pain, grieve. Childbirth was going to take some effort, some hard work, some toiling. In the next verse, it is used of Adam toiling in the soil. The ground would produce, but it what take work for it to yield its crops. Thus labor, work, toil became a part of life for the first humans if they wanted to eat. Still is today.



II Thessalonians 3:10:

For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.



The minimum requirement in our lives is to work. How hard we work is our business. God’s command is for us to work, although we should work heartily unto the Lord.