Good Morning My Friends! It’s time to take a look at a thing called “Work!”
“Six days you shall labor and do all your work” (Exodus 20:9, NIV)
Saturday mornings are one of my favorite mornings because I get to sleep later. I purposely set my alarm for a much later time than 4:30 a.m. I have to say, I truly enjoy the added hours of rest.
Rest, as you know is incredibly important. God intentionally designed our week to include one day of rest. However, the other six days, we are to work.
Saturdays are one of my work days. Oh, I don’t go to my paid employment and work. On Saturdays I get other types of my work done. This past year this work includes writing. But I also do household chores, which like most of you includes a myriad of tasks.
Today, God wants to bring to our attention to the topic of laziness and the significance of diligent work.
Laziness is Like a Virus
Laziness is like a virus. Viruses can’t survive on their own. So they seek a host to sponge off. In other words, to live, viruses rely on the generosity of healthy, hard-working cells. Viruses don’t want to work to survive. They want another cell to do all the work. Viruses just want to benefit from attaching themselves to a generous host. Viruses want a life of ease.
A lazy person does the same exact thing. They don’t want to work. They want a life of ease too. They want to benefit from the work of a diligent laborer.
However, God has designed our bodies to defend themselves from viruses.
Healthy cells do what they have to do to stay healthy. Healthy cells are willing to work. In fact, they work hard. They fight back. They either kick that virus to the curb where it will die, or they kill it because they won’t let it stay attached sucking all the nourishment from them so that they get sick and die.
“If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat” (2 Thessalonians 3:10, ESV).
Healthy cells rule!
“The hand of the diligent will rule” (Proverbs 12:24, NKJV).
So we know what happens to viruses, but do you know what happens when people are lazy?
- They go hungry: “A lazy person will go hungry” (Proverbs 19:15, HCSB).
- They get really sleepy: “Laziness induces deep sleep” (Proverbs 19:15, HCSB).
- Their homes leak and fall apart: “Through laziness, the rafters sag; because of idle hands, the house leaks” (Eccles. 10:18, NIV).
- Their life collapses: “Life collapses on loafers” (Proverbs 19:15, MSG).
Eventually, laziness kills:
“The desire of the lazy man kills him, for his hands refuse to labor” (Proverbs 21:25, NKJV).
God says that laziness actually decays a person. Desiring a life of ease is not how God wants us to intentionally live. God has designed our bodies to work.
Do Diligence
“Go, hence with diligence!” — Shakespeare
Diligence is careful and continued hard work. Diligence is characterized by steady, earnest, and energetic effort.
God wants us to be diligent workers.
“We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, so that what you hope for may be fully realized” (Hebrews 6:11, NIV).
God wants us to put in steady, earnest, and energetic effort to accomplish our individual responsibilities using the gifts He’s given to each one of us. We are not to neglect these gifts.
“Do not neglect your gift…Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them,” (1 Timothy 4:14, NIV).
We are to use the gifts we’ve been given to work to earn our own living so we aren’t a burden to others.
“Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living” (2 Thessalonians. 3:12, ESV).
“Laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you” (2 Thessalonians 3:8, NIV).
God knows that when we’re diligent laborers, we will profit from our work.
“The plans of the diligent lead to profit” (Proverbs 21:5, NIV).
Fruit of Your Labor
Unlike laziness has consequences, a diligent worker is rewarded with benefits. There are actual fruits of our labor.
- Sweet sleep: “The sleep of a laborer is sweet” (Eccles.5:12, NIV).
- We get to eat: “You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours” (Psalm 128:2, NIV).
- We will be blessed: “Blessings…will be yours” (Psalm 128:2, NIV).
- We will prosper: “Prosperity will be yours” (Psalm 128:2, NIV).
- It will go well with us: “You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you” (Psalm 128:2, ESV).
- We will be rewarded: “The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor” (1 Corinthians 3:8, NIV).
If we don’t give up working, we will reap rewards:
“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9, ESV).
Final Reward for Our Work
You know God is watching us. He wants us to work for Him. He plans to reward us.
When our earthly life ends, our work here will be rewarded. We will receive an inheritance.
“Knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ” (Colossians 3:24, ESV).
I love this next verse because sometimes we get really tired in this world. We toil and labor and it can feel like our work is never done. But one day we will truly get rest from our labor.
“Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.” (Revelations 14:3, NIV).
Until then, we need to refrain from laziness and embrace diligent labor.
Practical Application
Do you have a love of ease? I hope not.
Is there something you’ve been putting off doing hoping someone else would do it instead? I confess, I have done this from time to time, like cleaning the bathroom. I don’t enjoy cleaning the bathroom, but if I wait for someone else to do it, it may not get done. We’ve probably all seen what happens to bathrooms that don’t get cleaned.
Today, let’s refrain being lazy, if we are. Even if there is just one area of your life you’ve embraced laziness, be willing to do that hard work to accomplish the task.
I can’t answer for you what that may be, but if you’re at all like me, I’m sure you can think of something that perhaps you’ve been hoping someone else would do. Maybe you’ve been holding out, actually being lazy. Or you actually are sponging off someone else’s hard work.
Today is your chance to step up and diligently work.
Let’s refrain from laziness and embrace diligent labor.
Blessing for Your Day
[callout]May you keep your heart with all diligence. May you use your gifts to serve others and God.[/callout]
Just for Today
Refrain from Laziness. Embrace Diligent Labor!
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