When He saw the crowds, He felt compassion for them, because they were weary and worn out, like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”

Labor Day is a federal holiday celebrated on the first Monday in September beginning in 1894. It celebrates the Labor force and its contribution to our country. It marks the end of summer and for you, fashionistas it’s the time that one should no longer wear seersucker or white clothing again until Easter.

As laborers in the workforce, we may be in jobs that we love jobs that we hate, or jobs that we don’t care one way or another about. It is said if you work at something you love, you never work a day in your life. I was blessed to know by the time I graduated high school what I wanted to do with my life and for many years I worked at a job I loved.

I wish that I had discovered how much I would love working for the Lord, I would have begun that way earlier in my life. When I retired and had the time to do the things at church that I had previously not had time to do, I came to realize that working for the Lord is joyful and not like working most of the time.

In our Scripture passage for today, Jesus has compassion for these crowds. Remember Jesus is fully human, so He has emotions like compassion. He sees these people are worn out and weary. He was able to heal their physical ailments, but their spiritual needs were even greater. He was seeing such a great need for spiritual guidance and did not see enough workers to help all of them.

We can certainly look around us and see that not much has changed today. There are still many, many people who need a shepherd. They need someone to help with their spiritual needs. They are weary and worn from a life of sin. Sin will drain you.

Our church has a clothing ministry and a food pantry. Sometimes people who have lost everything due to flood or fire will come for clothes or those who are without food will come and get food. We first try to satisfy their physical needs. Often, these people have a spiritual need, and we invite them to come to church to try to help them with that.

As Christians, we should always be working to lead others to Christ. We do this not only by talking to them about salvation but by living a life of example as Jesus did for us. You can’t turn on the news or the internet or watch TV without hearing some tragic story of evil. You can’t watch commercials without being subject to behaviors that the Lord considers an abomination.

We may live in a nation that celebrates its workforce, but we have become a nation that celebrates the things that God hates. We have taken those things that before would never even be mentioned in public and turned them into a source of pride.

My friend, the harvest is plentiful. You may speak to hundreds of people about the Lord and only have one response, but don’t give up. Have a heart of compassion just as Jesus had a heart of compassion for these people. Their sin broke His heart, and it should break ours too.

We should have this compassion even for our enemies who have perpetrated evil against us. We know the Bible tells us that the wicked will not prosper (Proverbs 28:13). We should have a heart of compassion for these people who are sowing the wind and will reap the whirlwind. Those who seem oblivious to the fact that there will come a day when they will be judged for their actions.

Trust in God today, labor for Him. Serve Him. Do your best to set an example for others of the great love He has for us. Let them know that He will not tolerate disobedience but will punish those who deliberately sin against Him (Hebrews 10:26). For Jesus, it was a labor of love, and it should be for us as well.

Have a great day!