Avoiding Hard Work

(Proverbs 28:19-20) “Whoever works his farmland will have abundant food, but whoever chases fantasies will become very poor. The faithful man will prosper with blessings, but whoever is in a hurry to get rich will not escape punishment.”

(Malachi 1:8) “’When you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? And when you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Offer that to your governor—would he be pleased with you or receive you favorably?’ asks the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.”

If you are constantly looking to make fast money, taking shortcuts, and thinking that you are smarter than your elders because you handle well technology, then you are in for great disappointment and suffering in life. Hard work can never be replaced, no matter how smart, favored, or lucky you think you have been so far. Even following Christ takes hard work, sacrifice, and dying to yourself as you will be going against this world. However, only because of God’s grace that works through us, are we able to, first of all, accept Jesus as our Lord, able to keep His commandments, understand His ways and succeed in all we do.

It takes hard work to make a marriage work, to keep children from drifting away from good morals, to maintain a clean home, to keep your family faithful to church, to keep your mind clean from all the filth in TV and the internet, to have all your legal documents in order, and to be constant with your time of prayer and devotionals. God is not a magician, who will give you the answers for a test that you have not prepared for. He is a miracle worker who takes the natural and makes it supernatural.

Many Christians take this grace as an excuse not to improve or prepare themselves in the natural. They think that just because they are now saved and children of God that everything they do is blessed. They don’t strive to improve their musical talents, their use of technology and social media, and their skill to teach and share the Gospel in public, or even their need to eat healthily and exercise. God will bless what you humbly offer Him, but He will also reject it if you don’t give Him your best.

Apostle Paul is a great example of hard work, a focused mind, and a determined will to finish the mission.  He probably suffered the greatest amount of hardships and trials compared to the other Apostles. However, he ends up confessing that he has put up a good fight and finished the race with excellence. No one can ever raise a finger at him saying that he was lazy, or not willing to humble himself and do whatever it took to obey the Holy Spirit.

If you are someone weak in the natural because of your lack of discipline, being short-tempered, or fear of hard work, and sacrifice, then you will rarely experience the blessings God has prepared for you through the spiritual.

“The only place you will find success before work is in the dictionary” – Mary I. Smith

Prayers

• Heavenly Father, You have put my tears into Your bottle. Lord, You have delivered my feet from falling. Lord, You have set my feet upon a rock.
• Thank You, Father, that Your grace is sufficient for everything we face in life.
• Thank You that You sacrificed the best for us and expect us to do the same.
• Thank You that You reward our hard work, diligence, and discipline.
• Forgive us for being lazy and taking your grace for granted.
• Forgive us for believing that You will accept our leftovers.
• Give us today the desire, discipline, and love to improve in all our areas of life that are lacking.
• We ask for Your grace to do those things for which you have called us and separated us for.
• We declare that we will finish the race, give you our best and glorify Your name with all we do.
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• We ask in Jesus’ Mighty Name. Amen