Your Labor is Not in Vain
Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
1 Corinthians 15:58b
I find this to be one of the most comforting verses in all of scripture. I imagine that for most of us, we are familiar with the experience of working for some purpose, pouring out our energy and sweat and tears – laboring, as Paul puts it – and just not seeing the results.
We think, “what’s the point?”
Whether it’s at our job, in our relationships, with our kids or siblings or parents, or for some labor within church…we know what it’s like, don’t we? If you do, I want you to stop for a moment, re-read that promise – your labor in the Lord is not in vain – and apply it to the labor that has caused you your exhaustion, frustration, pain, and tears.
Your labor is not in vain.
Now, the promise is not that ALL of our labor will not be in vain – surely we will waste our efforts here and there. We need to be constantly asking ourselves, “who am I working for….?” at my job, in my family, in this setting or that…”am I working for me, or working for God?”
The promise is that our labor ‘in the Lord’ will not be in vain.
It means that, to the degree that our labor is for God, it will not be in vain: raising our children for God, reaching out to our difficult neighbors, doing our jobs in a way that is for God’s purposes, wrestling through the hard work of forgiveness and reconciliation, serving people who don’t benefit us – giving ourselves in love for others.
Whatever it is – for God – will be redeemed.
It will be, as Jesus was, raised to new life and healed – given new life in the new creation in a new heavens and new earth.
What a promise!
But it’s one that Paul didn’t exactly make up: he took it from the Old Testament prophet Isaiah. Look at what God promises through Isaiah in the great chapter (65) on the new heaves and new earth of the age to come:
21 They shall build houses and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22 They shall not build and another inhabit;
they shall not plant and another eat,
for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
23 They shall not labor in vain…
For you who are tired, frustrated, hurt, or struggling with seeing very little ‘fruit’ to your labor, I want to share with you a song that has meant a great deal to me as I’ve struggled with these things. It’s called “Your Labor is Not in Vain” – and it’s taken directly from Isaiah 65.
Give it a listen (Bandcamp | YouTube), and allow the words – especially the repeated chorus/refrain – to wash over you, fill your head and heart, and receive God’s amazing promise deep in your bones. Allow the promise reflected in the words to become a kind of foundation for you.
In this age, we will struggle – and we might not see the fruit of our labors, we might not live in the houses we worked to build, it might seem like the ground we’ve been given to work is cursed and stained – but it is not in vain. It will be redeemed.
And speaking of labor – I want to personally give a big THANK YOU to all of you who labored over the last few days to clean out, refinish, paint, and prep the Kraft Room, hallway, and office. My prayer – and confidence – is that your labor is not in vain. May that labor be used in God’s hands to create spaces where people feel loved, welcomed, and precious in God’s sight, where God’s gracious promises in his Word are explored in depth, and where people can find their true home in God’s family.