Happy Labor Day! Today we celebrate the contributions American workers have made to this country. But what does the Bible say about Labor Day and the job of the laborer?
The rest of the world celebrates International Workers’ Day, or Labour Day, on May 1, May Day. However, the international date still comes from the struggle of American workers. It is associated with the American labor movement in the late 1800s after violent protests at Haymarket Square in Chicago. Workers around the world now celebrate the holiday with marches and protests in May. However, Labor Day in the United States is the first Monday in September.
In 1921, at a time when the U.S. government was most afraid of violent working-class uprisings, the U.S. government declared May 1 “Loyalty Day.”
Today comes after President Trump declared Sunday a National Day of Prayer in Response to Hurricane Harvey.
Be inspired by these Bible verses about Labor Day:
1. “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men…” — Colossians 3:23
2. “Six days you shall labor, and do all your work…” — Exodus 20:9
3. “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” — Genesis 3:19
4. “Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.” — James 5:4
5. “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” — Genesis 2:15
6. “No bag for your journey, nor two tunics nor sandals nor a staff, for the laborer deserves his food.” — Matthew 10:10
7. “There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment?” — Ecclesiastes 2:24-25
8. “In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty.” — Proverbs 14:23
9. “And to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you…” — 1 Thessalonians 4:11
10. “In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” — Acts 20:35