Trey Knowles: Risala 5 – You Labor in Vain

Trey Knowles: Risala 5 – You Labor in Vain

Your labor empowers the lazy. The lazy worker commands others, bargaining for riches born from nothing, while sharing little with those who truly labor. You strengthen the wicked. You enrich the idle. You help them gather wealth that is here today and gone tomorrow—value that fades and leaves no lasting reward.

Why do you labor in vain? Can you not see that it is all for nothing? Does your work help the paralyzed? Does your work provide food and shelter? Outside of these things, your labor becomes empty. As it is written in Isaiah 55:2:

Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?

Are you tired of laboring for nothing, spending money on things that do not satisfy the spirit? What happened to you? Your faith was once in God. You lived simply, gathering what God provided. Your true labor was agriculture—producing, nurturing, and sharing the works of the Lord.

My Lord Yeshua said, “Do not work for food that perishes, but for food that endures to eternal life” (John 6:27). Of this I, Trey Knowles, am certain. My Lord Yeshua knows, for He is the bread of life that I follow.

ٱلْمَالُ وَٱلْبَنُونَ زِينَةُ ٱلْحَيَوٰةِ ٱلدُّنْيَا ۖ وَٱلْبَـٰقِيَـٰتُ ٱلصَّـٰلِحَـٰتُ خَيْرٌ عِندَ رَبِّكَ ثَوَابًۭا وَخَيْرٌ أَمَلًۭا

Wealth and children are the adornment of this worldly life, but the lasting righteous deeds are better with your Lord in reward and in hope.

You who labor are angry—but do you know why? Is it what you desire that stirs your anger? Is it what you covet that troubles your spirit? My Father created everything and called it good. Over it we were given dominion, so that we might glorify our Father in heaven through the blessing of His good works.

You who labor—who do you labor for? For the lazy worker who commands others? For those you empower? For those you make rich? For those who pollute the works of God—the earth and all that is in it? Why do you labor in vain and spend money on what does not satisfy?

Grace and peace,
Trey Knowles