Labor Day:

May the Lord delight in his works!

(Psalm 104:31)

We do well to honor labor. We get it from our Creator. We serve a working God—A God who not only Is but Does. We are part of God’s work—that unique creature that bears his Image: “Let us make them in our image …so in the Image of God he created them.” (Gn 1:26-27).

Like God, we have things to do:  1) To be fruitful in all our doings (2:28-31);  2) to cultivate and to care for God’s good creation—even Eden needed human attention (2:15).  3) to name all the animals. This naming is no small matter. Like God, out of our freedom, we speak. Even God seems interested in how we do: “The Lord God…looked on to see what he would call them.” There’s no second guessing. Whatever man comes up with “that was its name” (2:18-19). God doesn’t fuss with our freedom to name. This is our work of affirming every aspect of God’s good creation and making sure things are in order—they have a place and a name.

When we do our work well it turns into a vocation—even a calling. Our work plays its part in God’s good creation. Nobody taught this better than Martin Luther (16th cent.):

The maid who sweeps her kitchen is doing the will of God

                        just as much as the monk who prays

                        not because she may sing a Christian hymn as she sweeps

                        but because God loves clean floors.

The Christian shoemaker does his Christian duty

                        not by putting little crosses on the shoes,

                        but by making good shoes,

                        because God is interested in good craftsmanship.

When we do our work well we make things better and bring honor and glory to our Creator.