Theme: DIGNITY OF LABOUR
Text: “Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.” – Ephesians 4:28.
Comment: More than 80 countries in the world have a day in which they commemorate the value of work, and the contributions of workers to the well-being of society. In the United States and Canada, it is the first Monday of every September.
The Bible has much to say about the dignity of work, which helps us to see our labour as more than “just a job”. If you feel sometimes as though you carry out your job through strenuous exertion just to put bread on the table, know this: there is dignity in accomplishing just that.
The advice of St Paul in today’s text emphasizes the importance of work or employment. That unemployment is at the root of the problems of many young people, who become involved in stealing, cheating, drug related crimes and other vices, is a known fact. It is sheer slothfulness for a young educated person to sit down waiting for hand-outs or be a professional applicant instead of being creative person willing to do any kind of lawful job. St. Paul, with all his spiritual knowledge and intellectual endowment was also a tent-maker. (Acts 20:34; 18:3) The devil does find job for idle hands. The unemployed – who are mostly young persons – should learn to acquire skills so that they could create jobs for themselves and be self-employed. This will make them to be useful to themselves and to other needy persons by the grace of God.