Eat the Fruit of Your Labor

January 7

The Lord wants to bless His people. He holds out great opportunities for enrichment to those who will but place their lives at His disposal. We read in Psalm 128:2 David’s encouraging words, “You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours.”

We sometimes tend to read verses like that one and make the quantum leap of interpretation that assures that all believers will be possessors of great wealth. While some people of faith do have tremendous financial resources, we cannot equate promises such as this one entirely with the monetary realm.

The Lord indeed wants us to have financial blessings. He wants us to labor and to reap the reward of our work. There is a verse that says, “Do not muzzle the ox that treads the corn…” I Timothy 5:18, and goes on to clarify, “…the laborer is worthy of his hire.”

Yet beyond the gain afforded to us by our work, we have also the assurance of spiritual gain when we labor for the Lord (I Corinthians 15:58) where we are told that we are to, “…abound in the work of the Lord, for your labor for Him is not in vain.” He is a rewarder of those who work to further the Kingdom of Christ.