Proverbial Wisdom

I still happen to believe that here in America work is available if a person will look for it. It may be not what we want, or be the best kind of work, or pay the best, but work is available.

ILL.- Last week Jim Reed and I cut down some very big bushes (tree-like bushes) and hauled two loads to the landfill. It took several hours of bending, lifting and sweating. I told Jim that we could probably hire out to do this kind of work. But we probably won’t do it. Jim is retired and my back won’t take it. It’s not that we’re lazy or anything like that.

What we did was work and not many want to do it. But I’ll bet money that some people could make some money doing that kind of work. It’s hard work, but it would pay.

10:4 “Lazy hands make a man poor.”

ILL.- Mark Kennedy said, “All of the biggest technological inventions created by man - the airplane, the automobile, the computer - says little about his intelligence, but speaks volumes about his laziness.”

We have automobiles, but whatever happened to walking? We have computers for e-mail and internet searching, but whatever happened to writing letters and reading books?

ILL.- President Ronald Reagan once said, “It’s true hard work never killed anybody, but I figure, why take the chance?” This is the way many people think.

Laziness is not just a problem when it comes to work. It has also invaded the spiritual realm.

ILL.- A survey in England reveals that although 26 million persons are baptized Anglicans, only 2,887,671 are registered on church membership rolls.

In Latin America, long considered a Christian stronghold, 88 percent of the population are baptized Roman Catholics, yet Catholic authorities report that the “vast majority” seldom see the inside of a church.

What do these figures mean? They mean that many people profess Christianity but they are too lazy to go to church or do anything that demonstrates their Christianity.

In most of our churches about half (or only half) of the church membership shows up on any given Sunday. Why? A variety of reasons could be cited, but laziness is certainly one of them. It’s much easier to lie in bed on Sunday morning than to get up and go to church.

This is only one problem that we face. Many people don’t want to serve the Lord in the church or outside the church. All churches have problems getting people to serve in various ways. Why? It’s either lack of commitment and/or spiritual laziness.

ILL.- Someone said that our prayer should be: “Lord, do not only count me, but also count one me.” Can you be counted on to serve the Lord in some form? As someone said, “We’ve been saved to serve, told to tell and won to win.”

10:4 “Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth.”

The way to gain wealth: financial or spiritual wealth is to work.

ILL.- Arnold Schwarzenegger didn’t get wealthy and become the governor of California by not working at it. Billy Graham didn’t become one of America’s most favorite preachers and spiritual figures by doing nothing.

ILL.- Thomas a Kempis, the great German writer, (1380 - 1471) wrote: “Never be entirely idle; but either be reading, or writing, or praying or meditating or endeavoring something for the public good.”