In 1882 the Knights of Labor, an American workers' organization, decided to call the first Monday of September, Labor Day. Working people throughout the country then asked for state laws to make it a legal holiday. These followed, and the day became in both the U.S. and Canada a legal holiday. For working people Labor Day means more than just a day of rest. In many cities workers parade through the streets, and labor leaders address workers' meetings, stressing the importance of their work. It can be appropriately observed by Christians to recall what place labor should have in their lives and to be reminded of what the Christian attitude should be towards daily work.

Adam had to work. Work is not the result of sin. God is a working God, and man as His image-bearer must also work. Sin did not change this mandate. All healthy people of working age should work, whether they need the money or not.

What kind of work did Adam have to do? That is difficult for us to say, since the world was still in the state of perfection when he was given this command. Did Adam have to cultivate the soil to bring forth a crop? Although we don't know the details, we do know what this mandate generally implied. First of all it meant that Adam, as the first man, and all men after him had to exercise the stewardship of the earth. God had created an earth with untold resources. Think of all our modern conveniences and inventions, developed with earth's resources. God told Adam to develop the earth, with all of its riches. Closely related to this is the fact that God is the God of providence of this earth. He will continue to support the earth and carry out His plans for all of history through the work of man. We, for example, can't make things grow. But we can plant, tend and harvest the crops. And so God with His sunshine and rain uses man to produce food for the creatures living on His earth. We can't deposit coal or oil in the earth. But we can reach down to get them and put their energy to work. We can't create the atom, but we can employ its awesome power. Our labors are fruitful, because God is pleased to do His work through us. This is true of believer and unbeliever alike. In the third place, we must remember that we are all a part of His large humanity, the organism of the human race. Work is service for the neighbor in God's great world. The farmer raises crops for himself and others. The factory worker is working for a wage and producing something for the use and benefit of his fellow man. There are myriads of activities in which we consciously or unconsciously "help" the world around us. In this sense work is simply service.

All this began with Adam. In the state of perfection, whatever he had to do and did do, must have been sheer joy for him, working on and with this marvelous earth which God had made.

But sin came. It distorted everything, including our attitude toward work. One of the results of sin is that work became toil, so that it makes man weary and work becomes monotonous. Adam after the fall had to toil "in the sweat of his brow." Work became a burden, and the place of work is often considered to be like a prison. Sin hinders us from developing the idea of work as a service. Man has lost his sense of calling working for God. We treat work as if it is bad. A common aim in work has become to work as little as possible and to get paid as much as possible. We work because we'd have no money if we didn't. Monday through Friday often becomes a drudgery to be endured in anticipation of the week-end. A laborer may often say, "I just hate to go to work." Although he may become resigned to it, he eagerly anticipates vacation, and even more, retirement. If only he had enough money he'd quit his job and replace it with a life of leisure. Sinful man sees work as a necessary evil. He may live for himself and never think of serving his fellowman.

Christ as our Savior solves our problems of work and toil, for He revolutionizes our attitude toward work. Christianity changes the whole man. With a new heart and renewed mind he begins to see things as God wants him to see them. He realizes that his job is from the Lord. As a Christian, he is willing to do an honest day's work. If he is a married man he works to support his God-given family, and various enterprises of God's kingdom. If he is a knowledgeable Christian, he realizes that work is part of the great mandate given to Adam in the beginning of history. This mandate means that he should develop the resources of the earth. Christian scientists, inventors and industrialists are to be aware that they are working in and with God's marvelously rich and complex creation. The Christian farmer realizes that he is in service of His heavenly Father and depends upon Him for the needed rain and sunshine. All Christian workers are to remember that God is their heavenly "employer" and that He is using them as His "employees" to carry out His program of providence and support of His creation (Col. 3:23ff).

Finally, the Christian knows that he must love his neighbor in doing his work. He is in the service of his fellow men, helping to provide them with food, clothing, homes, cars and other necessities. Realizing that he is serving God by serving his neighbor enables him to appreciate the value and honor of his work. This may be difficult to see if his job is to empty septic tanks, haul garbage, or even turn the same kind of screw on the assembly line of an auto factory eight hours per day and some forty-eight to fifty weeks per year. But it is still true. With the right attitude towards his work, he can go to it every day with a feeling of honor and dignity. What a blessing it is to work daily with such Christian dedication at our God-given and therefore sacred jobs.