“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”-I Cor. 15:58
Labor Day, while celebrated in September in the United States, is commemorated on May 1st in Latin America. It’s known to some as the Día del Trabajador (“Day of the Worker/Worker’s Day”), and it’s marked by various protests for workers’ rights. A recent survey found that, of those who work the most hours in a year, Latin America took four of the top five spots (South Korea came in fourth, and the United States in sixth). Various countries have laws that say their people can only work a certain number of hours per week, but many of them are looking to lower that number. Chile in particular just passed a law that incrementally lowers the legal work week to forty hours in certain sectors of the economy, set to take effect completely in the next five years.
When we think of workers and working, our minds easily go to the work of the Lord that He’s given us to do in Latin America. There are many people who will live for years, labor hours on end to barely sustain a family in a job they hate, and then die without Christ and go to hell because nobody ever told them the truth. What a sad life!
Thankfully, we have hope in Christ. In fact, anything we do for Him isn’t wasted. Our labor is not in vain in the Lord. I want to ask, What about you? Would you be willing to be a laborer for the souls in Latin America that need the gospel of Christ?