Laced With Grace – Christian Devotions

Happy Labor Day!

By Guest Blogger September 1, 2008 Devotion, Holiday

 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work.”

Exodus 20:8-10a NKJV

Did you know that the Labor Day holiday originally started in the late 1800’s? I can only imagine how excited the people were to take a day off from working. Some may have thought, “What a wonderful and new idea!” Created and implemented as a day of rest by those hard working blue collar laborers in New York City, this day continues to be one, that we as a nation, look forward to every September.

To put it rather loosely, Labor Day has become a man made American Sabbath day. A yearly day of rest from our labor, to say goodbye to Summer, to go camping, to gather family for a barbecue, and boy howdy, do us Americans look forward to our Labor Day weekend!

If you think about it, God has already created a special day for those of us who labor. As Christians our very own Labor Day doesn’t come only once a year, and it doesn’t only come on the first Monday of each September, that special day for us comes every seventh day of the week. If we are smart, we try very hard to honor it. We take that seventh day to stop from our labor and relax a bit. Our bodies weren’t created to run full steam ahead each and every day. We were created in His image, and if our God and creator, the great I Am himself rested from His labor on the seventh day, how much more so do we need that rest?!?

Friends, our bodies were made with Sabbath DNA. God placed this spiritual genetic matter within each cell that makes up our miraculous body. So today while you are taking an American Labor Day rest by traveling, painting your house, or doing yard work, remember that God had something even better for His children in mind… a weekly rest, a weekly time-out from our hard work.  A time-out from our labor, we all need it.

Remember friends, God didn’t make rest on the Sabbath day a gentle suggestion, He made it a command.

Tagged on: , , ,

9 thoughts on “Happy Labor Day!”

  1. eph2810

    You are right Joanne. God gave us the rest once a week – not only to rest, but honor Him. I do have to say though – I do look forward to the few extra days in the year to have a long weekend…

    Have a blessed and safe Labor Day 🙂

  3. Marsha

    This has been an area I’ve been so convicted about this summer. It’s been anything but restful. I’ve worked 6 days a week all summer. I’m very involved with our church, so Sunday’s are anything but restful. In the afternoon I always find something tht needs to be done. And then I wonder why I’m so tired!
    You are so right! Our bodies were made with the DNA to need rest. We would all be healthier spiritually, phsically and emotionally if we were to go back to honoring the sabbath rest.
    Thanks for this post.

  4. LindaLinda

    I agree Joanne. I sometimes wish we could go back to the time when everything closed on Sunday. I think we would all benefit from a true sabbath rest.

  5. AngieAngie

    Well said! (But I have labored here at home…all day long…cleaning—and sneaking peeks at the TV —doing my “storm watching”) But all in all—I have spent a wonderful day at home with Jeff and LOVED every minute of it!

  6. Mari

    A class I took on mental health had a section in it on the importance of a day of rest. They showed studies on how people’s health declined when they didn’t get that day. I guess God knew what he was doing – right?