For Zion

"But the laborer in Zion shall labor for Zion; for if they labor for money they shall perish." (2 Nephi 26:31, emphasis added) 

One of the questions on the get to know you sheets that I'd pass around to my students asks what kind of a profession they would like to pursue. Sometimes I'd get answers like "rich" -- and that always reminds me of the scripture above. Pursuing this truth there are a couple questions that need answering: What does it mean to labor for Zion as opposed to for money? Does this mean we are to refuse payment? What does it mean to perish? There are plenty of wealthy people who seem to have sought it with a determined and singular approach just fine. 

Zion can be defined a few ways scripturally: a chosen land (D&C 58:49-50), the Lord's people (Moses 7:18), and a state of heart (D&C 97:21). I think the latter two definitions are most helpful for understanding this scripture.

The Lord describes the people He calls Zion as being of one heart and mind and dwelling together in righteousness without any poor among them. This society is interested enough in each others welfare that poverty is eliminated. Their interest in unity has overcome all selfish interests. To labor for that kind of Zion would require someone to buck the one of the prevailing trends in of our current day: profits over progress. It has been demonstrated over and over to the observant citizen, that large and wealthy industries and the share holders within them are more interested in preserving and enlarging their profits than they are in benefitting human kind. The oil industries repeated killing of alternative fuel vehicle startups is only one of a tidal wave of examples. In a capitalist market, without moral discipline, money becomes God. On a personal level, the laborer in Zion's own drive for personal enrichment would have to be checked by the desire to lift and bless all others in his society. His yearning to lift them would emerge instead of just his desire to lift his own household above theirs. Maybe that's what his heart needs to be purified of - the pride of one-up-man-ship. 

Do I really labor for Zion? Am I really seeking to lift and change my society for the better with my efforts? Or is it only a means to the end that is my paycheck? While it is a natural and God-given inclination to support those within one's stewardship. To do so in a way that genuinely lifts all others - and for that to be one's true motivation seems to be much more noble than racing rats. Perhaps it comes only as we broaden our understanding of our stewardships - to include our communities - that we begin to care enough to approach Zion.