Todays Reading: 2 Kings 20:1-22:2, Acts 21:15-36, Psalms 150:1-6, Proverbs 18:9-10
Scripture: “He also who is slack in his work is brother to him who destroys.” Proverbs 18:9
I have been going back and forth trying to decide whether I should write on the scripture in Acts about Paul or this one here in Proverbs. Needless to say, I came up with my decision. This passage is written in the Message to say: “Slack habits and sloppy work are as bad as vandalism.” I am part of a generation that seems to have a pretty poor work ethic, yet a great sense of entitlement. Unfortunately my generation is giving birth to children and teaching by this example. However, God requires diligence and hard work from those of us who call ourselves followers. Proverbs 14:23 says, “All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.” So, what am I talking about? Am I referring to working hard in our place of employment? Yes! However, that is not all I’m talking about. We should work hard at our jobs. We should work hard as spouses. We should work hard as parents. We should work hard as followers of Christ. If Jesus is our example, and He is our model for how we live our lives then we must be hard workers.
Why would I write about this at this time when the story of Paul may seem so much more dynamic? I believe that this is more relevant to us today at Grace. This is a time where we must work hard. This is a time where we roll up our sleeves and stop blaming others for things not getting done and we do it. This is the time that we allow God to work through us. We have many areas that are in need of people. You have to be willing to get out of your seat on Sunday mornings and do something different. I have had numerous people step up to start our new format for children’s worship. We have met and brainstormed all the possibilities of what can be done with our children. We have had financial gifts and donations made to us to allow us to do something big here at Grace through children’s worship. We had close to 30 adults assisting me at my site for VBS this year (that’s not counting our other 2 sites). We were off campus and doing something different, but the people of Grace stepped up to make our backyard Bible clubs a success.
We have made church more about meeting our needs and less about meeting others needs. It’s time to face the reality that our work has been sloppy. We haven’t worked hard. It’s time that we do so, and we do it for the glory of God. When we go to bed at night let’s be exhausted from working hard at our jobs, working hard as a spouse, working hard as a parent and working hard to spread the name of Jesus.
