TAKING INITIATIVE
Wise Living Series #3
Proverbs 6:9-11
WISE PEOPLE TAKE INITIATIVE. They just don’t sit and watch,
they take action to accomplish what they believe God wants.
Welcome to our Wise Living Series. We’re discovering biblical principles to equip us for life – to live our lives to the fullest, to live well. Wise living is understanding and patterning our lives according to the structure and order that God built into the world. A truly wise person lives according to God’s plan.
We first look into what is required to live wisely. We enter the road leading to wisdom through the fear of God defined as: Not being frightened, or scared of God (although we should). It is deep and healthy respect for God, and His authority, which, when make us personally loathe sin and love righteousness.
In our second message we pointed to the need of clearly defined plans. Wise people have a sense of what God wants and plan their lives to fulfill those plans. Wise people have a sense of their God-given destinations and have made plans at arriving there.
Today, let us look at another aspect of wise living – taking initiative. Someone said there are three types of people in the world: those who do not know what is happening; those who watch what is happening; and those who make things happen. Wise people make things happen. Wise people take initiative. They see a problem and act on it. They don’t just sit passively and wait for opportunities to come. They prayerfully take actions. When faced with a problem, or a need, the wise person goes to God, seeks for wisdom, and then takes a piece of paper, and begin to consider her/his options. What should I do Lord? What do you want me to do? And then take action.
It makes sense isn’t it? If you have a problem, you take action. What else is there to do? Unfortunately, not many people, followers of Christ, included, do it. This perverted human tendency causes the writer of Proverbs to warn us of laziness. Instead of taking action, the lazy person does nothing. Instead he or she sits passively, watching, waiting for something to happen.
The Book of Proverbs call people who live by this philosophy as sluggards. (Mga batugan; Tamad). A slug is a slimy snail like creature that has no shell. It walks so slowly and without direction. Sluggards are lazy:
“So how long are you going to laze around doing nothing? How long before you get out of bed? A nap here, a nap there, a day off here, a day off there, sit back, take it easy – do you know what comes next? Just this: You can look forward to a dirt-poor life, poverty your permanent houseguest!” Proverbs 6:9-11 (The Message)
Dirt-poor life! Poverty your permanent houseguest! While the OT may have viewed this warning as referring primarily to material poverty, we are safe to apply this to every area of our lives: mental poverty; physical; social; emotional; spiritual; potential resulting in unfulfilled lives and unrealized potential.
Laziness causes a lot of damage in people. Add hunger and loss of human potential to poverty. One proverbs that drives this point with humor is Proverbs 19:24 24: “ Some people are so lazy that they won’t even lift a finger to feed themselves.” (NLT)
This is a humorous exaggeration meant to make us feel the pain as we laugh, because we know this is so true with our lives. The food is right there in front of him, but the slug has neither the energy or the motivation to do it.
Another passage warning about the destructive effects of laziness is Proverbs 26:14:
“Like a door turning back and forth on its hinges, the lazy person turns over and over in bed.” (NCV)
The slug turns over and over, stuck up in bed – going nowhere. Wasting his life.
But why would people not take action? The lazy person says why not! Why take action when you can blame someone for your problems. It is much easier to sit and complain about the unfairness of live or the overwhelming frustrations of the modern world. Why take initiative in solving your problems when we have the fashionable option of blaming our parents, our spouse, our friends, our employer, our teachers, our pastors, our government or our God for our problems.
Another alternative to taking initiative is to settle into this fatalistic dream of some better future that will eventually “just happen” to us. Underlying many missed opportunities to take action is an unspoken but deeply held belief that goes something like this: “Somehow, someday, Lord willing, my life will improve. Somehow, someday day what I want will come to pass. Someday, somehow I’ll drift into more satisfying circumstances. Dreaming for a better day without initiating action for a better day is nothing but a dream. This is akin to what James said as “faith without works.” It is dead!
As we pointed out this week, this is not the way God set life. The natural course of life is not up, but down. Those who choose to sit back and go with the flow normally end up going downhill. If we want God’s best, it will require an uphill climb. Without doubt that uphill walk is going to require action and initiative, and nobody who has embraced the “somehow, some day” philosophy will ever reach God’s best for their lives.
Taking initiative faces another challenge in our tendency to postpone action for a latter time or procrastination. Every time a person responds to a pressing responsibility with a careless, “I’ll do it later” he or she is acting in a lazy way.
We are so acculturated to this mindset that we need a radical change. We need to be delivered from this destructive habit.
Floods in the Philippines. The MWSS start working on drainages after the first flood. We all see the folly of such a practice, but how true also that we all tend to procrastinate.
A final challenge to taking action is making excuses. The lazy person always finds a reason to do nothing. I love bus rides, especially when I am alone. It gives me a good 45 minutes of reflection. I get almost an hour of focused thinking. I look at a situation, think through it, pray about it, think of options, and then plan a way of doing it.
The sluggard quoted in Proverbs 22:13 comes up with a great reason for not going to work. Proverbs 22: 13 The lazy person is full of excuses, saying, “If I go outside, I might meet a lion in the street and be killed!” “There is a lion outside!” To make sure no one questions her/his admirable reason for remaining inside, he says, “I might get murdered in the streets!”
What an imagination! I remember an equally humorous article on Ten Reasons for Not Taking a Bath. And what if there is a lion on the streets? The man should join the lion hunt! Only a sluggard would sit around for the rest of his or her life because there are dangerous obstacles in his or her way. The truth is there will always be “lions in the street. There will always be frightening responsibilities. There will always be overwhelming challenges. There will always be heartbreaking disappointments. But only the sluggard will make excuse after excuse in the face of life’s demands.
Think about your own life. Do you make excuses for lack of performance, lack of diligence, lack of discipline, lack of good thing? Look at the fruit of your life now. Are the fruits giving you joy or do they make you sigh in sorrow?
But you might say, not me, never. I am busy as ever. I am not guilty of slothfulness. I am a go person. I don’t ever walk. I ran. This is so true of us in Hong Kong. We are known as the city of “running people.” Nobody walks here. Everyone is on the run.
Several years ago I read a book written by Bill Hybels where he warns that it is possible for busy people to suffer from a hidden disease of selective sluggardliness – a disease characterized by carefully constructed compartments where slothfulness reigns. Though little, if left unattended will ultimately bring pain, and heartache, even ruin in our lives.
It’s those who spend more money than they have and say tomorrow they’ll go on budget – but tomorrow never comes.
It’s men and women who fill their time with people but never tend the soil of their own interior lives. They never look deeply at the emotional and psychological realities that drive their behavior, affect their goals and shape their relationships.
The father who succeeds at work; has a lot of friends, but fails miserably to respond to the emotional needs of his wife and children.
It’s the student who does so well in school but fails to relate well with his family.
One reason why selective laziness is so deadly is that if other areas of our lives look good enough we can convince ourselves that we could be excuse from failing to take initiative in some areas of our lives. I remember talking a young father who had three kids who love to attend Kids Church. Their mom works on Sunday and so the father who works on a night shift has to bring the kids to church for them to come. Sometimes the father feels tired and would rather sleep on Sunday afternoon. The kids end up unhappy. One day I spoke with the father and encourage him to bring his kids to church. He told me he was tired. But I would not accept that excuse.
My dad was the most evangelistic man I know. He has brought more people to Christ on a one on one basis than anyone I know. He was the most diligent evangelist I know. He would walk visit people for hours to share with them. He was industrious and provided well for his family. He was a great spiritual man. I have never seen an elderly man who loved reading the Bible; the most prayerful man I’ve seen in my life. But my dad had a weakness. He easily lost his temper. And that temper hurt the most people that he loves. Even if we are good at 9 out of 10, that one area of laziness could be devastating.
Those of you with kids listen to me. There is a man of God in the Bible. His name is Eli, a well respected, successful priest. He did well in everything except that one area of selective sluggardliness – he would not discipline his sons. He had two boys who were little rascals, and though he indented to train them in the ways of godliness and integrity, it proved to be a more daunting challenge that he had anticipated. So he gave up. In time the little rascals, became big rascals. The trouble they eventually caused led to Eli’s downfall.
Let us now look at Proverbs 6:6-11 and see what we could learn from the ants.
“Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones. Learn from their ways and be wise! Even though they have no prince, governor, or ruler to make them work, they labor hard all summer, gathering food for the winter. But you, lazybones, how long will you sleep? When will you wake up? I want you to learn this lesson: A little extra sleep, a little more slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest— and poverty will pounce on you like a bandit; scarcity will attack you like an armed robber.” (NLT)
First, the ant teaches us about the importance of knowing what you want. Do you know what you want? The ant does. It wants food. It dreams of food. It breathes food. People who do not know what they want are great disadvantaged in life. Napoleon Hill, known inspirational author, says “All great achievements starts with great desire.” I believe this is one reason why Jesus wants us to pray. You express what you want to God in prayer.
Secondly, ants teach about pushing ourselves to get the job done. Ants do not have anyone over them telling them what to do. They just do what they need to do. This is called self-motivation. The Follower of Christ however does not lack any reason to act. We live and act to glorify God. We get the job done to give glory to God.
Finally, ants teach us about thinking ahead. It comes up with a plan and decides what needs to be done and when. It knows that if it wants provisions through the winter it will have to work hard during the summer. Once the ant gets its plan and timetable worked out it motivates itself into action. The ant does not procrastinate. It does not make excuses. It says in its little voice, “Let’s get going. Let’s get to work. Let’s do it now.”
Let us look at five areas of our lives where we need to apply initiative and diligence.
First, we need to take initiative in Building Relationships. Contrary to the world’s value, the Bible says that the greatest legacy we can leave is a legacy of love. 1 Corinthians 13:13: “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” The greatest legacy I can leave mankind is a legacy of love – those thoughts and actions that flow from a heart of love.
It is within the context of family that loving actions and thoughts are most appreciated and necessary – and most difficult to maintain. We all have good intentions, but in the rough and hard tumble of life we tend to hurt and bruise each other. The little wounds to our ego, those hurting words of rejection and condemnation, they all make us want to withdraw.
Keeping peace is difficult because we know it takes time and effort. How easy it would be if all we need is one effort. But we all know that real peace usually requires a lot of concerted effort. We’re already too busy. We just don’t have time for another one.
So we avoid making the phone call. We refrain from reaching out to that one person. We withdraw. We give up. God does not give us permission to give up that easily on relationship. We are called to build up, not tear down or burn relationships.
Romans 12:18 Do your part to live in peace with everyone, as much as possible. (NLT)
“As much as possible” implies a tenacity to do all you can even when faced with seemingly insurmountable obstacles. It instructs us to hold on to the last shred of hope and to move on with the last shred of hope.
“As far as it depends on you” tells me that I have no control over the other person’s attitude or action or response to our peace initiative. But I am responsible to do all I can to reach out, to take the initiative, to exhaust all efforts to bring healing and reconciliation.
Recently, Emma and I watched a movie about a man who discovered he only had a few months to live. He lives alone. He’s divorced from the woman he loves and his son who really hates him. That summer, he decided to build a house for his son. In one of the scenes, the former wife asked him, if he still loves her. He said, “I have loved no one else but you.” Can you imagine the pain of loving someone but could not be with that person.
This is so true with relationship. I read somewhere that most of those who separated from their spouses will continue to bear that pain all throughout their lives. They develop a gaping hole in them.
The second area where taking initiative is really needed is hard work. God expects us to work hard. It reflects his character as a hard working God. May I take this time to speak to our younger family members, those who are still in school. Working hard and giving your best in preparing yourself for the future is your divine calling. It is your worship to God. Proverbs 12:24 Work hard and become a leader; be lazy and become a slave. Proverbs 14:23 Work brings profit, but mere talk leads to poverty!
“Work hard and cheerfully at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.” Colossians 3:23 (NLT)
Life is not supposed to be easy. Hard work is necessary. Change the way you work.
Thirdly, we also need to take initiative in keeping ourselves healthy. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 states “Or don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.”
We have been bought by the blood of Christ.
What is God saying to you about your body? Your health?
Fourth, we need to take initiative in sound handling of Money Matters. God has given us ample instruction about the right use of money. He expects faithfulness in handling money whether we have a little of it, or when we have much of it.
“Unless you are faithful in small matters, you won’t be faithful in large ones. If you cheat even a little, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities. 11 And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven? 12 And if you are not faithful with other people’s money, why should you be trusted with money of your own?” Luke 16:10-12 (NLT)
“Tell those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which will soon be gone. But their trust should be in the living God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and should give generously to those in need, always being ready to share with others whatever God has given them. By doing this they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future so that they may take hold of real life.”
1 Timothy 6:17-19 (NLT)
Finally, we must be the most diligent in taking initiative to keep a vital spiritual life.
As a pastor for many years I have observed a phenomenon that I consider to be the height of all spiritual contradictions. I have seen people who are so diligent in work, with their health, in providing for their family who do nothing to keep themselves spiritually healthy. They are rusting spiritually. They have lost their spiritual edge.
The writer of Hebrews points this out. In biting sarcasm, the author reprimands believers who have failed to grow from being spiritual babies to spiritually mature people capable of teaching. He encourages us to do all we can to grow, to work hard in developing healthy and productive spiritual lives.
“For God is not unfair. He will not forget how hard you have worked for him and how you have shown your love to him by caring for other Christians, as you still do. Our great desire is that you will keep right on loving others as long as life lasts, in order to make certain that what you hope for will come true. Then you will not become spiritually dull and indifferent. Instead, you will follow the example of those who are going to inherit God’s promises because of their faith and patience.” Hebrews 6:10-12 (NLT)
The goal for every Follower of Christ is to become “Rich towards God.” Jesus in the Parable of the Rich Fool warns against failing to become rich towards God. So what does it mean to be rich towards God? First, I believe to be rich towards God refers to a vibrant, living, personal, deep, and satisfying relationship with Jesus. It must also include being productive in life. Having been entrusted with resources by God, we invest these and produce fruits for God. Spiritual riches could also include our personal development. Someone said, “what we have in God’s gift to us, what we become is our gift to God.”
How do you feel about this message today? Do you sense the Holy Spirit telling you something about an area of your life – relationships, work, health, money or your spiritual life? Remember that God loves you and when He tells you something that needs to be changed, He does it because He loves you. Do you feel you’re rusting spiritually? Then come to God today and rededicate your life to the Lord.
