Diligence

For Wednesday, September 21, 2005
Proverbs 12:24

The hand of the diligent will rule,
while the slothful will be put to forced labor.

The students who do the best work are the students who are most diligent in their labor. They are the students who excell in grades, get the awards, and win the scholarships. The employees who are most diligent find the same kind of results. So do rulers, athletes, musicians, indeed in every field, the same pattern holds out - the diligent rise above the slothful.

The slothful never catch on. They think the diligent's success has to do with luck or with favoritism. They don't make the connection between success and diligence. They connect success with being shrewd. Even then they think shrewdness has to do with succeeding without having to work.

Jesus once told a parable about the shrewd use of talents (money) entrusted to servants. According to the diligence in which each servant used the money, he was awarded all the more. The simple principle is that our faithfulness in small things leads to being entrusted with greater responsibilities. We need to examine our hearts about this. I've listened to Christians complain about being treated unfairly in school or the workplace presumably because of their Christian convictions. And yet, how often is the real case being that they were not diligent in their labors. It is a terrible witness for a vocal Christian to be a slothful worker. We should be the most diligent, knowing that it is for Christ whom we labor, whatever the job; it is God whom we are to glorify by the quality of whatever work that we do.

How diligent will you be today in the work that you have to do?