'And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry."' But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God." - Luke 12:19-21
When The Carpenters released "Rainy Days and Mondays" on April 23, 1971, I'm sure that song raced to #1 on the Billboard Easy Listening chart and #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 list because Karen Carpenter had one of the five smoothest voices of all time in my humble opinion.
However, I'm also sure that any song with the line "Rainy days and Mondays always get me down" would have to climb pretty high because we live in a society that still hasn't figured out the place and value of work; and the biggest target for work complaints is "Monday." Our fallen world thinks dreariness and work go hand in hand, so of course "Rainy days and Mondays always get us down."
But before we join the chorus of Monday complaints today, it behooves us to recognize that, in today's Bible verses, Jesus makes a clear connection between our strength of soul and our attitude toward work. And though it's true that works never save us (read Galatians in the Bible), God ordained from the beginning that a healthy work ethic is a part of our enjoying paradise. Before sin entered the world, "The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it." (Genesis 2:15)
Indeed, God ordained that though work never saves us in relation to God, works are a way for us to thank and glorify God for giving us life and saving us, which is exactly what we see in the New Testament in 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12: "To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ."
In fact, that would be a perfect prayer for us to pray for each other on every work day, but especially today, since it's our "favorite" workday: Monday! May God give us strength of soul and a positive attitude toward work. To God be the glory!
Praise God!
(For an archive of "Day of Praise", please visit my daughter Calley's website at http://dayofpraisepc.blogspot.com/?m=1)
Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson
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