Years ago, one of my students explained marriage customs in his home country of Ghana. If a man wanted to marry a woman, he had to give her family a cow. Some parts of the country required two cows. I chuckled as I revealed that one of my daughter’s suitors owned seventeen cows. He asked sincerely, “How many cows would he have to give you to marry your daughter?” I pondered the boy for a moment and answered, “He doesn’t have enough cows to marry my daughter.”
Laban turned out to be a tough taskmaster for Jacob. He put his nephew to work but he wanted to offer him some remuneration. Jacob asked if he might work for the privilege of marrying Rachel. Wait. How does Rachel feel about this? This feels too transactional for our comfort. Remember many stories in scripture are descriptive, not prescriptive. Jacob and Uncle Laban agreed he would work for seven years. But the time passed quickly because he knew he would get to marry Rachel.
Why do we do what we do? Have you ever discovered your “why?” Your “why” will make your “what” make sense. What is our motivation? A worthwhile goal toward which we strive can even make time pass more quickly. For my very first job outside our home, I was paid $1 an hour. As the hours wore on, the boring work did not seem worth the pay. I needed a better motivation than money. I still do.
Seven years is a long time. Think about all that has happened to you in the last seven years. What if we did our work for Christ? Paul told the early believers, “Whatever you do, in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 10:31). Now there is a great motivation. C. T. Studd put it this way, “Only one life. ‘t will soon be past. Only what is done for Christ will last.”
