Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine
Within your house,
Your children like olive plants
Around your table.
— Psalm 128:3
After we learn how to sleep (Psalm 127:2), and after we become like a mighty man with arrows (Psalm 127:4-5), then we are able to labor. Within ourselves we produce oil and wine for others to enjoy. We become like a vine tree and an olive tree. Wherever we go, oil and wine go with us. We are just as the Lord was in His ministry. As we labor, wounds can be healed, and people can be restored. We can bring people to joy.
We should all desire to be such a person in the church life. We don’t just enjoy wine for ourselves, we produce it for others to enjoy. We don’t just have oil for ourselves, we produce oil to anoint others’ wounds. We are like a house and a table that can bring people to rest and cause them to stand. As we labor and serve in such a way, we minister Christ to people in full. Then we ourselves have the rich enjoyment of our labor. We eat the labor of our hands.
Adapted from The Journey of Life, pages 73-74.
Tomorrow: “Blessed, and a Blessing”