Proverbs 20:4 "The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; therefore shall he beg at harvest and have nothing."
Colossians 3:23-24 "Whatever you do work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward.
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I think a lot of times we as Christians and people, and Americans, often get tired of plowing. Very few reading this may be farmers, or even remotely close to such a profession (indeed I am not much of a simple gardener even), but I know that this still applies to my own life as it is.
I think, in my life at least, a person may go on for weeks or months throughout the school year, or in the work place, or at the market place, day in and day out doing one thing, and one thing only. Work, work work and more plowing and shearing and pruning and harvesting. Work. We people, especially in high school, would give a great deal simply to have no responsibility and simply sit for a few days and simply REST without doing ANYTHING at all that is required of us.
And then winter comes.
Yeah. We don't want to go out there and PLOW EVEN MORE when we've been plowing out and working our faces off for the rest of the year.
There's just one problem with this. While it is good to rest, we must also realize that when the time calls for it, it is good to work.
And according to Proverbs, it is only the sluggard who "will not plow for reason of by cold." And doing this also costs the sluggard something beyond just getting work done. "Therefore shall he beg at harvest." If we don't plow now, when it's hard, when it stings us in the wind, then we will pay for it later. This is what this verse said to me.
Beyond this, in the other verse I mentioned, it says to "work heartily as for the Lord and not for men."
The reason why we must plow now, in the cold, is not because we try to further ourselves, or so we can work less later. It is to provide for us in the future, and it is because it was to this end that God has created us to function.
To work. To work heartily. In the cold.
And most importantly, for Him.
I know not all who may read, but I write this to honor Christ. And that is all that matters.
Good post! Colossians 3:23-24 really challenges me. I think a lot of people today try to do the very least for people instead of doing heartily the hard things God calls them to do. And like you said, there are consequences for putting off the work. Those verses are so true, and I think that everyone can learn from and be challenged by them.
ReplyDeleteThanks Abby. These verses have really been challenging me about my book. I need to pray about that, since it will never be successful unless He helps me to do it.
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