Work Six Rest One! (Labor Day)

Some say that heaven will not be heaven for some people.

Illus: That reminds me of the story one of the fellows in church told me. He told me that Bill, Ron, and Jack all died and went to heaven.

When they got there, they discovered the most beautiful golf course they had ever seen. St. Peter told them that they were all welcome to play the course, but he cautioned them that there was only one rule: DON'T HIT THE DUCKS.

The men all have blank expressions, and finally one of them asks "The ducks?"

"Yes", St. Peter replies, "There are millions of ducks walking around the course, and if one gets hit, he squawks, then the one next to him squawks and soon they're all squawking to beat the band and it really breaks the tranquility. If you hit the ducks, you'll be punished, otherwise everything is yours to enjoy."

After entering the course, the men noted that there were indeed ducks everywhere.

Within fifteen minutes, one of the guys hit one of them. The duck squawked, the one next to it squawked and soon there was a deafening roar of duck squawks. St. Peter walked up with an extremely homely woman in tow and asked, "Who hit the duck?" The one who had done it admitted, "I did."

Immediately, St. Peter pulled out a pair of handcuffs and cuffed the man's right hand to the homely woman's left hand. "I told you not to hit the ducks," he said. "Now you'll be handcuffed together for eternity.

The other two men were very cautious not to hit any ducks, but a couple of weeks later, one of them accidentally did. The quacks were as deafening as before, and within minutes St. Peter walked up with an even uglier woman than before. St. Peter determined which one had hit the duck by the fear in his face, and cuffed the man's right hand to the homely woman's left hand. "I told you not to hit the ducks", he said. "Now you'll be handcuffed together for eternity."

The third man was extremely careful. Some days he wouldn't even move for fear of hitting a duck. After three months of this he still hadn't hit a duck. St. Peter walked up to the man at the end of the three months and had with him a gorgeous woman, the most beautiful woman the man had ever seen. St. Peter smiled to the man and then, without a word, handcuffed him to the beautiful woman and walked off.

The man, knowing that he would be handcuffed to this woman for eternity, let out a sigh and said "What have I done to deserve this?" The woman responded, "I don't know about you, but I hit a duck."

We all would like to have the dream life, but it seems that the ducks keep getting in the way.

WHAT IS THE DREAM LIFE?

Most of us will concur that the ideal life would be to wake-up in the morning, eat breakfast, then go outside and sit under a shade tree all day long and not have to do anything.

While this may be good for a little while, I can assure you this kind of life can soon become pure misery.

Illus: One of the good things about a vacation is that we get to sit under that shade tree for a few days, but after about a week or two we are ready to go back to WORK!

• God knew what He was doing when He said, “Work six and rest one!” But everyone does not agree with God about working SIX and RESTING ONE! They had rather REST SIX AND WORK ONE!

• Work is a wonderful invention of God…IT WORKS!

Since most of us work at least forty hours a week or more, we need to understand why God has commanded us to WORK SIX AND REST ONE!

Let me show you several things that God had in mind when He commanded us to work.

I. WORK IS GOD’S WAY OF PROVIDING FOR OUR NEEDS

Some of the most miserable children on this earth are children who have had everything given to them as they grew up.

It is nice to have something given to us every now and then by someone who loves us. But one of the most satisfying things in this life is to take the body, the strength, and the wisdom God has given us, and with His help, do something for ourselves.

We live in an age that knows very little about that inner joy and peace. Many feel that the way we PROVIDE FOR OURSELVES is to TAKE FROM OTHERS.

Illus: A Sunday school teacher was teaching her class about the difference between right and wrong. "All right children, let’s take another example."