Walking with the Wise #455: Work Hard

“I passed by the field of a sluggard,


by the vineyard of a man lacking sense,

and behold, it was all overgrown with thorns;

the ground was covered with nettles,

and its stone wall was broken down.

Then I saw and considered it;

I looked and received instruction.

A little sleep, a little slumber,

a little folding of the hands to rest,

and poverty will come upon you like a robber,

and want like an armed man.”
—Proverbs 24:30-34

The grace of Christ transforms a person—overhauling every facet of our lives. We become better people, work harder, abandon sinful ways, and pursue lives of integrity and holiness. But this is not without human effort. It is grace working through us, showing us how we are to live. Paul, in writing about the grace of God at work within him, and that caused him to work for Christ, so powerfully said,

“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me”—1 Corinthians 15:10.

Though Paul was referring to working to make the Gospel known in 1 Corinthians 15:10, the concept of grace at work within us permeates every particular of life. The grace of God works within us in order to bring about the life of God, so that we might look like the Son of God, for the ultimate reason of bringing glory to God.

Work is one arena that is often overlooked. We have a tendency to separate the spiritual from the everyday, creating a line of demarcation that was never intended to be there. Following Jesus means removing that line by the means of taking up our cross daily. And that means carrying the cross through our day-to-day activities of which work is one. God has ordained that we work (Genesis 2:15) —it’s part of the mandate given at creation, and is still in place today. But, because of the Fall every aspect of creation is marred—including work (Genesis 3:17-19). One of the consequences of the Fall is that work is now hard, and when we couple the ground (which is cursed), with our sinful flesh, we can easily see why laziness creeps in. Work is hard and we would rather not do it, but do it we must, especially if we bear the name of Jesus on our soul.

Our job is to be industrious, not lazy. Today’s proverb gives a description of what happens to lazy people—poverty and want inevitably ensue. The lazy man refused to prepare his land for farming, letting brush grow up everywhere. He was supposed to cultivate the land, clear the brush, plant the seed, make sure the stone walls were kept as boundaries—but he didn’t. The consequence of his laziness wouldn’t be known at first. Perhaps he had been industrious and hardworking at one time, having the harvest of the previous season. Not keeping his land in check, he would find poverty, hunger, and want coming on him suddenly—without warning. He would be out of food in an instant—knowing he hadn’t prepared for what was inevitably to come. Failing to plan and prepare oneself by being lazy and refusing to work is deplorable. So deplorable that the Bible issues a very harsh judgment in 2 Thessalonians 3:10:

“For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.”

To let the one eat who refuses to work, is to allow him to continue in his rebellion. He will never learn the lesson of being industrious and working if others feed him. It’s God’s tough love approach. He must recognize that he has a responsibility to work—to provide for his family and for the greater community.

The lesson is this—be industrious. Do your work, plan the best you can, but be industrious and work hard. As the Bible says in 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. You are serving the Lord Christ.”

Do your work unto Jesus. Let your life be an example of God’s grace at work, enabling and transforming you to be a mirror that reflects God’s glory so that others may see Jesus in you and give God glory. Amen.