'Whereunto I also labour, striving according to His working, which

worketh in me mightily' (Col. 1:29).

'Always labouring fervently for you in prayers' (Col. 4:12).

'Fight the good fight of faith' (1 Tim. 6:12).

'I have fought a good fight' (2 Tim. 4:7).

To return to the words that most literally mean 'labour', namely, kopos

and kopiao, we cannot but rejoice to know that there is provision made for

'all that labour and are heavy laden' in fellowship with One Who knew what it

was to be despised and rejected and yet could at the same time look up to His

Father with true submissiveness, and say: 'Even so, Father, for so it seemed

good in Thy sight' (Matt. 11:26).  We rejoice also to realize that though

Paul could, without boasting, say that he laboured 'more abundantly than they

all', yet he could add: 'Yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me' (1

Cor. 15:10).  In spite of a weariness sometimes overshadowed by death itself,

we can rejoice that in the risen Christ, and by the power of His

resurrection, no labour however wearisome, can be 'in vain', for such is 'in

the Lord' (1 Cor. 15:58).

In the days of our ignorance, many of us have sung: 'I want to be an

angel, and with the angels stand'.  We have since learned that the redeemed

of the Lord will never be angels, although some, in resurrection glory, will

be made like the angels in some respects.  Some of us are rejoicing in a

position, given by grace, that places us far above even principalities and

powers.  Angels, we are told, are 'ministering spirits'.  Although the saint

will never be an angel, yet in the wider sense of the word, all the redeemed

may be 'angels', for both the Hebrew malak and the Greek aggelos are

translated 'messenger'.  To be a messenger does not require learning or

skill.  It may call for expedition, but even a slow messenger is better than

none.  To be a messenger for the Lord is within the power of all.  A most

important aspect of this form of service is expressed by Haggai:

'Then spake Haggai, the Lord's messenger in the Lord's message' (1:13).

The messenger and the message should be closely associated, so that the

one is but the outward expression of the other.  The words of Haggai might

well be applied to dispensational truth, for one cannot dissociate Peter from

the message to the circumcision, nor Paul from the grace of God to the

Gentiles.  And what is true of such messengers as Peter and Paul and Haggai

should be true of us all.  The man and his message should be as closely

united as possible.  This, of course, involves practice as well as doctrine.

As Paul puts it concerning himself: 'Thou hast fully known my doctrine,

manner of life' (2 Tim. 3:10).

The Book of Proverbs uses a striking figure when speaking of the

'As the cold of snow in the time of harvest, so is a faithful messenger

to them that send him: for he refresheth the soul of his masters'

(Prov. 25:13).

It is a blessed thought that the faithful messenger, even though his message

be unpalatable to those who receive it, is a delight to the One who sent him.

The figure is reversed further on in the same chapter of Proverbs, for in

verse 25 we read: 'As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so