<i>Veritas est Immortalis</i>: Postings on Proverbs...13:4

Veritas est Immortalis

"If the Church is not in possession of truth, truth as an understanding that corresponds exactly to what is in reality, and...exactly to what is in the will and character of God, then it has been left speechless. It has nothing to say" (David Wells). But never forget: "Divine Truth is immortal, and though it may long be bound, scourged, crowned with thorns, crucified and laid in a grave, yet on the third day it will rise again victoriously and will reign and triumph eternally" (Hubmaier).

Monday, June 09, 2014

Postings on Proverbs...13:4

"The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied" (ESV)

Who? Anyone
What? Craves and gets nothing vs. Being richly supplied
Why? The sluggard vs. The diligent

This proverb is convicting, isn't it? One of the worst things I can think of is looking back on my life and saying "I wasted it." The difference between those who say that and those who don't is laziness.

I think about this a lot as a young adults pastor and now a high school teacher. I've seen the future of the kids who blow off high school and barely pass. Most will end up becoming losers who are forced to settle for low paying jobs. Then, when faced with desires to make more money to try and dig themselves out of the hole their laziness put them in, they don't and they won't. Why? They're too lazy to change.

The lazy person "desires the gain of diligence, without the diligence that gains it" (Bridges 151). Is that you? Everyone, the lazy and the diligent, has desires, goals, dreams, but only those who work hard have their desires not just fulfilled, but "richly supplied," or "abundantly satisfied" (Waltke I:554).

I want that, don't you, especially if your desires are God's desires for you? I want to look at my life and see goals met. I never want to think I wasted it. Who wants to look at their lives and see unfinished projects and unfulfilled dreams? If something is worth wanting, then it's worth working for. There's nothing noble about wanting to be something, but never doing it.

Currently, I especially struggle in this area, so I end with this on religious laziness: "Oh! be industrious -- if anywhere -- in religion. ... Hours, days are lost. ... To expect the blessing without diligence is delusion. ... Child of God! shake off the dust of sloth. Take care that the bed of ease doth not [spoil] thine appetite, and hinder thee from seeking food for thy soul" (Bridges 152).