Diligence and Laziness

Introduction

Many of you may not know this about me, but at one point I used to be a rapper.

This was of course before I was saved and I am not always proud of the things I did during this time.

but I did learn some valuable lessons that have helped me long after those days.

The lesson I want to talk about that I learned as a rapper has to do with diligence and laziness, the two very topics we will be looking at today.

I was at a friends house, getting ready for a show we were about to perform, when my partner in the music made a comment along the lines of,

“I AM THE ONLY ONE who actually put in work for this to happen.”

It may seem like a very light criticism but deep down, that comment struck a nerve and hurt.

It wasn’t the comment that hurt me but the truth behind it.

I had spent most of my life just playing around and never taking things too seriously.

Here I was with an opportunity to finally make the music thing happen and what was I doin? I was just playing around.

After thinking about this for some time, I decided that I was ready to make a change.

I decided that nobody would ever be able to tell me that I didn’t put in the work or that I was a slacker and that I would even outwork the person that told me that.

Once this happened, the music started reaching levels that I never imagined would have happened.

A manager found us through my work on twitter and connected us with many opportunities including radio play.

Many different producers or beat makers joined our team through the work that I put in networking.

Instead of performing at other peoples shows, through my work of speaking with different venues, we were able to host our own where other people opened for us and we were the headliners.

Through this example in the music, I was able to see that there was a direct relation between how hard I worked and the success that followed.

A quote that I heard from a famous basketball player, Kevin Durant, always stuck with me.

“Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.”

I am certainly not the most talented person in anything but one thing I do have control over is how hard I work.

Diligence and Laziness

Today, we look at the topics of diligence and laziness in the book of Proverbs, but before we deep dive into this, I always like to define my terms.

What is diligence?

Diligence is a consistent, careful, and persistent effort to accomplish a task or duty.

It is often characterized by qualities such as hard work, perseverence, attention to detail, responsibility, and discipline.

What is laziness?

Laziness is the unwillingness to exert effort or energy, often resulting in procrastination, neglect of responsibilities, and avoidance of tasks that require work.

These are too very opposite terms we are looking at here.

How many of us when we examine our lives consider laziness to be a sin we need to repent of?

How many of us view each day as an opportunity to be diligent in accomplishing the things we were created to do?

Diligence

If you could choose any animal as an example of diligence, what would you choose?

First thing that comes to my mind is a lion who diligently hunts down her prey so that she and her family don’t starve.

Or maybe them armadillos at the zoo who seem to never stop running around the little cage they are in.

The example we get from the book of proverbs is not a lion or an armadillo, but an ant.

A tiny little ant gives us a great example of diligence.

Proverbs 6:6-8 says, “Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways and be wise. Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest.”

The life of an ant certainly requires diligence.

What would happen if this ant didn’t prepare her bread in the summer and decided, you know what, I think im going to spend this summer playing fortnight with my friends instead of working.

The ant would get to the harvest and realize that there is nothing to eat and would die.

Proverbs 12:11 tells us, “Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits lacks sense.”

We see here that the Bible associates wisdom and reward with diligence.

“The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance” says the proverb.

Similar to the story of the ant, you may not realize that how you spend your time now will have a great impact on your life now and even further down the road.

Consider one of the worlds richest men, Elon Musk.

As a child, he was constantly reading books and by the age of 12, he taught himself to program computers and created a video game called Blastar which was sold for $500 dollars.

You may know him as the owner of the social media that was once called Twitter, or Space X, Tesla, and much more.

I am not saying your goal in life should be to be the richest person in the world, but no matter your goal, if you wish to accomplish it and more, you must be diligent.

An even better example is the great preacher Charles Spurgeon.

Spurgeon preached his first sermon when he was only 16 years old and went on to have his first job as a pastor at the age of 19.

Some of you may be 16 right now and 19 is only around the corner.

The effort you put in today certainly matters.

Laziness

If you could choose any animal which represented laziness, what would it be?

My first thoughts would be the Panda bear but that could just be because Ive seen Kung Fu Panda a million times lol

You may also think of your cat who does nothing but lay around the house all day while you work or go to school.

The Bible gives the examples of the slug and the sloth.

Proverbs 6-9-11 reads, “How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.”

Proverbs 19:15, “Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep, and an idle person will suffer hunger.”

Proverbs 22:13, “The sluggard says, There is a lion outside! I shall be killed in the streets!”

I don’t interpret this passage to mean that a lion is literaly waiting outside of his door for him to walk out because if that were the case, it probably wouldn’t be wise for him to go out.

This passage is showing that excuses often accompany laziness.

How many of us have told our teachers that the dog ate our homework? Do you guys still say that now days?

Other than the rare cases where the dog actually did eat the homework, this is simply an excuse like the lion outside.

Other than starving, the bible also mentions that “the hand of the diligent will rule, while the slothful will be put to forced labor.”

Laziness is a costly sin and if it is not addressed sooner than later, will certainly cause our lives to be way harder if not completely ruined.

Parable of the Talents (Example of Jesus)

Although Solomon spoke extensively on Diligence and Laziness, I find this example from Jesus to be very convincing of the importance of these two topics.

In the parable of the talents we read,

English Standard Version Chapter 25

14 “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. 15 To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 16 He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. 17 So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. 18 But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. 19 Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 20 And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’ 21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 22 And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’ 23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 24 He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’ 26 But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? 27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. 29 For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

A talent of silver would be worth nearly 400 to 600 thousand in todays world where a talent of gold could be worth closer to 1.5 million.

It doesn’t matter if it was gold or silver, these people were entrusted with a lot of money.

We see here that those who are diligent in their work will be rewarded, while the slothful or lazy are punished.

Consider Jesus life here on earth.

Do you see an example of diligence or laziness?

Do you remember when Jesus was a boy and went missing from his parents and they looked all over for him and found him in the Temple?

They ask why did you do this to us and he says, Did you not know that I must be in my Fathers house?

When in the garden, praying with such anxiety that he was sweating drops of blood as he anticipates his death, he says, “Not my will but yours be done.”

Jesus knew the work that was set out before him and what he must suffer in our place but moved diligently on this earth keeping the whole law and accomplishing everything that was needed.

If Jesus would have been slothful in his work and left anything undone that needed to be done, we would be without hope.

But Jesus was the example of diligence, living the perfect life, dying on the cross, suffering Gods wrath in the place of sinners, so that all who believe in Him are adopted into his family and receive eternal life.

Application

So if we are adopted into the family of Jesus the diligent, what kind of sense would it make for us to be sluggards or slothful?

NONE AT ALL!

Romans 12:11 tells us “Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.”

You want to know what happens when I become spiritually lazy?

I struggle to find joy in life

Im easily irritable and get angry

The temptation of sin grows stronger and stronger

Im constantly bitter and find myself complaining more and more

Overall, I find myself further away from God.

Like the proverb says that an idle person will hunger, I become spiritually starved and it is costly.

If we are to be diligent as God has called us to be, we must be disciplined in our faith.

In our home group, we realized there was a lack of Bible reading amongst the members, which I know to be extremely important.

I decided I would be diligent in a solution to this issue by creating a Bible reading plan that all of us could join which shows who is doing their reading and not.

So far, all of us have made great efforts to spend time in the Word.

This is something we must be diligent in.

If we don’t hear from God in his Word frequently, not only will we not grow closer to God, but we will begin to grow further from God.

If there is one thing that Christians should be diligent in, its reading the Word of God.

Being diligent in the Word comes with great reward, matter of fact the best reward!

GOD!

Not only should we be diligent in the Word, but we should be diligent in:

Fighting Sin

Obeying Gods Law

Telling People in our life about Jesus

Serving the Church

This is what Gods Word has called us to do as Christians so we must make a serious effort to be diligent in these things.

On the other hand, consider your life and where you are being lazy.

Are you going to waste your life away and come to ruin as the proverb says or will this be like the time my rapper friend told me that I didnt even do any work which caused me to repent?

Our days are numbered!

If you died today, would you be happy with your effort towards the things of God?

I know I surely wouldn’t which means there are things in my life that need to change as well.

I have found that when I realize something needs to be done in my life, I plan for it down to every little detail and when that time comes around, I get it done.

If it doesn’t get done, I examine my plan and find out where the mistakes were and try again.

If it still doesn’t get done, I come up with a new plan and try again.

The point is to make every effort in doing what God has called us to do.

The Lord took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.

Will you see to it that your garden flourishes with the most beautiful flowers or will you let it be destroyed by the weeds?

Lets Pray!