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Dignity Of Labor
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The Relation Between Christianity and Human Effort
The things of earth are more closely connected with heaven and
are more directly under the supervision of Christ than many realize.
All right inventions and improvements have their source in Him
who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working. The skillful
touch of the physician’s hand, his power and nerve and muscle, his
knowledge of the delicate mechanism of the body, is the wisdom
of divine power, to be used in behalf of the suffering. The skill
with which the carpenter uses his tools, the strength with which the
blacksmith makes the anvil ring, come from God. Whatever we do,
wherever we are placed, He desires to control our minds, that we
may do perfect work.
Christianity and business, rightly understood, are not two sepa-
rate things; they are one. Bible religion is to be brought into all that
we do and say. Human and divine agencies are to combine in tem-
poral as well as spiritual achievements. They are to be united in all
human pursuits, in mechanical and agricultural labors, in mercantile
and scientific enterprises.
There is a remedy for indolence, and that is to throw off slug-
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gishness as a sin that leads to perdition, and go to work, using with
determination and vigor the physical ability that God has given. The
only cure for a useless, inefficient life is determined, persevering
effort. Life is not given us to be spent in idleness or self-pleasing;
before us are placed great possibilities. In the capital of strength a
precious talent has been entrusted to men for labor. This is of more
value than any bank deposit and should be more highly prized, for
through the possibilities that it affords for enabling men to lead a
useful, happy life it may be made to yield interest and compound
interest. It is a blessing that cannot be purchased with gold or silver,
houses or lands; and God requires it to be used wisely. No man has
a right to sacrifice this talent to the corroding influence of inaction.
All are as accountable for the capital of physical strength as for their
capital of means.
The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong;
and those who are diligent in business may not always be prospered.
But it is “the hand of the diligent” that “maketh rich.” And while
indolence and drowsiness grieve the Holy Spirit and destroy true