Loss of Labor

Index
(Proverbs 5:10)

"Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labors be in the house of a stranger;" Proverbs 5:10

Tradition and experience has taught men that their labor should always count for something. Whether a man works for a dime or a dollar, he rarely volunteers his energy to a cause unless by his own choice of conviction. Even then, we generally regard a volunteer as doing what he does in order to gain some level of prestige or credibility toward future employment. Then there are the forced volunteers who, by no choice of their own, find themselves as slaves within a system they do not wish to serve. In the end, we find that labor is either given or taken. Where it is taken, the laborer has no stake in what he produces. Where it is given, the laborer obtains an income for his work. And that income, whether by small or large percentage, is his wealth.

Solomon speaks in this verse about the unintentional giving of one's labor to a stranger who will, in turn, fill herself with the wealth that such labor produces. Some may recall that the great and wise king of Israel once finished his work on the "house of the Lord" (I Kings 7:51), quickly amassed a fortune (I Kings 10:23), and soon gave his attention toward the "strange women" (I Kings 11:1) who "turned away his heart after other gods" (I Kings 11:3-4). Alas, when all his labor was finished, all his wealth had been established, and he turned toward the stranger, the Lord God took the kingdom away from him and gave ten of the twelve tribes to the family of Jeroboam (I Kings 11:31). No wonder the king has such a stern warning for his children. For if they continue in the same routine, all of their labor would be lost as well.

On the other end of the spectrum, it's easy to consider the challenges that Paul faced as he labored constantly with the hope that his work was not in vain (Galatians 4:11; I Thessalonians 3:5). His labor was not a physical foundation, but a spiritual investment in the forming of the Body of Christ (I Corinthians 3:10). He worked and toiled day and night on behalf of believers who were in constant need of cultivation. Just as every building has the potential to erode with time, so Paul found that men of salvation were easily being confused by false and perverted doctrine (Galatians 1:6-9). And although their spiritual temples would remain intact by the seal of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13; 4:30), their witness and testimony would quickly erode with a love for the present world (II Timothy 4:10).

So many of us have given our lives as volunteers to the cause of God's grace in this age. We serve. We labor. We work. And we do it all in the hope that our efforts are not in vain. Sometimes, when our labor appears to be lost in the brokenness of fellowship or the silence of brothers who no longer speak, we pause and wonder: "Have I lost all my labor to the inevitable failures of human friction?" Lest we think too highly of our own efforts, let us remember that in this present day, our labor begins and ends with a work much bigger than our temporary disappointments. Just when we begin to feel the sting of labor's loss, His Word reminds us to be confident. For it is His work, not ours.

"Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:" Philippians 1:6