Labor Of Love

So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.
I Corinthians 3:7

In Shakespeare’s play Love’s Labour’s Lost, four suitors go to great lengths to woo four ladies, only to have their efforts thwarted in the end. This play is unusual in that it operates as a comedy but without the expected happy ending. Apparently there is historical evidence suggesting Shakespeare wrote a sequel to it called Love’s Labour’s Won. Wouldn’t it be amazing if some day a copy were found?!

Having a “new” play by Shakespeare would be such a gift to the world. But that particular sequel would be especially exciting because we love happy endings and we hate to think of labor being lost, effort going to waste. We would love to see that unhappy ending resolved.

I believe God has placed in us a desire and a need to work, and furthermore, to believe that our work is meaningful. But part of Adam’s curse in the Garden of Eden was that the ground would be cursed; that it would bring forth thorns and thistles; that he would have to work hard and sweat to make it productive at all (Genesis 3:17-18). What was pleasant, easy work in the Garden, would now be difficult and not always fruitful.

Eve incurred a curse on a different kind of labor, the kind that only a woman can perform. Childbirth was cursed with pain, and of course, it is not guaranteed a happy outcome either.

In a fallen world, our labors are sometimes… lost.

Sometimes we labor diligently in prayer, example, and teaching to bring someone we love to Christ. And yet, years may go by with no success and we can’t help but feel our labors have been for nothing.

And some labors are in vain, in a sense, because as Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 3:19a-20, “man has no advantage over beasts, for all is vanity. All go to one place: all are from the dust, and all return to dust.”

But in 1 Corinthians 15:58, Paul said, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

Though we may not always see the results, whatever work we do for the Lord is not in vain. Earlier in the same book (3:5-8), Paul describes evangelism as planting and watering, which, he points out, might be done by different people. I may plant the seeds of the gospel in someone’s mind, but I may not be around for the watering. I may not be there when “God gives the increase,” when the plant finally sprouts up and becomes visible. That doesn’t mean my work was in vain– quite the opposite in fact.

And even if our labors do not lead to the end result that we would desire, when we make the sacrifices of effort on behalf of someone else, there is always a blessing in that. Many of us know the pain of laboring through an early miscarriage. A few know the even deeper pain of giving birth knowing the child will be stillborn. A mother is still going to do what she must, no matter how painful, for her child. What greater act of love could there be? Suffering for love is always an opportunity to imitate God.

Because that’s what God did for us, isn’t it? “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son,” (John 3:16a). Who does that?! What kind of love does that require? It’s almost too much to take in.

But it was a labor of love.

Some day the tragedy of Eden will be reversed (Revelation 22:2-3), the unhappy ending resolved. God’s word will not return to Him void, but will accomplish what He pleases (Isaiah 55:11). His work is never in vain. Love’s labors are never really lost.

Dear God, help me to be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in Your work, knowing that my labor in Your kingdom is never in vain. Thank you for the opportunities You give me to plant and water even though I do not always see the results I desire. Help me to trust You to give the increase. In Jesus’s name, Amen.

by Christie Cole Atkins