TODAY IN THE WORD

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Deuteronomy 21:18-21.
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TODAY IN THE WORD
Farouk I, the last king of Egypt, came to the throne as a sixteen-year-old in 1936 and was deposed in a coup led by Gamal Nasser in 1952.

At first the teenage king enjoyed his great popularity. But Farouk soon began to shirk his duties. He lived a life of luxury and gluttonous indulgence. The effects of the king’s lifestyle were captured in side-by-side photos published after his exile. The first showed an elegantly slender young king walking beside a swimming pool. The second photo, also taken as Farouk strode beside a pool, showed a man so enormous he is scarcely recognizable.

Obviously we can’t say that a gluttonous lifestyle was the only factor in King Farouk’s fall. But gluttony certainly contributed to the loss of his throne. Gluttony, whether in food or drink, can reveal inner character flaws that manifest themselves in various ways. It wouldn’t be surprising to find that an unabashed glutton is also out of control in other areas.

Deuteronomy 21 points out this connection—and reveals the seriousness of the sin of gluttony. Here we find that this sin may contribute not just to the loss of a kingdom, but to the loss of a life!

The Mosaic Law’s provision for incorrigible juvenile delinquency may sound needlessly harsh to our modern ears, but it’s a reminder that rebellion in the home leads to rebellion in society. The fact that Jewish tradition says this law was never carried out does not diminish its importance as a revelation of God’s attitude toward sin.

Notice the charges that the father brings against a son who is uncontrollable. Among other things, he is a “profligate” (v. 20), the same word translated “glutton” in Proverbs 23 and 28 (see yesterday’s study). The fact that the son is also a “drunkard” fits perfectly with the picture of someone whose appetite is out of control.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
How’s your spiritual appetite? Job said, “I have treasured the words of [God’s] mouth more than my daily bread” (Job 23:12). For most of us, that’s getting serious!

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Proverbs 23:1-3.
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TODAY IN THE WORD
The ancient Greek philosopher Diogenes ridiculed the pursuit of wealth and pleasure, believing that happiness comes by meeting one’s basic needs. One day the philosopher Aristippus, whose flattery had won him a place at the ruler’s table, saw Diogenes preparing a meager meal.

Aristippus said, “If you would only learn to compliment Dionysius, you wouldn’t have to live on lentils.”

“And if you would only learn to live on lentils, you wouldn’t have to flatter Dionysius,” retorted Diogenes.

The wisdom in that statement has been proved countless times. Solomon knew a thing or two about how kings used “delicacies” (v. 3) to achieve their purposes. And he was probably weary himself of the “hangers-on” in his court who were always ready to heap insincere compliments on him to win his favor.

We might say that’s just the way the world works. But God doesn’t want His people playing that game. It is easy for the sin of gluttony to lead to other sins. For example, it’s pretty hard to sit at someone’s table and stuff yourself while he picks up the tab and then freely speak the truth to your host even if it’s bad news.

That’s the idea behind Solomon’s warning. Ancient rulers were masters at using their feasts to get what they wanted from their guests, surround themselves with flatterers, or keep a suspected enemy under close watch. In that day an invitation to the king’s table might mean you were either being fattened up for a favor or for the kill!

Whatever the case, the danger of compromising one’s integrity by an undisciplined appetite is real--so much so that Solomon suggests putting a knife to your throat rather than to your plate if necessary. He’s not advising suicide, of course, but restraint at all costs.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Over-indulgence in any area can dull our spiritual senses and leave us vulnerable.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: 1 Corinthians 10:31-33; Colossians 3:22
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TODAY IN THE WORD
During the 1908 Presidential campaign, William Howard Taft played a lot of golf, explaining that he was too heavy and hoped to lose weight on the links. But Teddy Roosevelt advised Taft against making his golf outings public knowledge after a man wrote to Roosevelt saying that “laboring people” considered golf a “dude’s game.” Roosevelt feared the publicity would be bad for Taft’s image, and Taft relented--although he continued to sneak away for a round of golf whenever possible.

People do things or stop doing things for a lot of reasons. Politicians and celebrities often make decisions based on what’s good for their image. They place a lot of emphasis on whether or not a decision is “good for business.”

It’s the same with food and drink. People eat for many reasons besides just refueling their bodies. Some people eat to reward themselves--or even to punish themselves. Others eat to feel better, to ward off the “blues,” to deal with anger, or to forget a painful circumstance. Still others pick up a glass or a bottle for the same reasons.

As Christians, we really have only one all-encompassing reason for what we do: the glory of God. Why should we be about the business of enhancing His glory? Because that’s what God is about too. All of His creative and redemptive activity is designed to enhance and reflect His glory (see Eph. 1:11-14).

When we live for God’s glory, no activity is too trivial or mundane to escape His notice. Even a cup of cold water given in Christ’s name brings Him pleasure and gives us a reward (Matt. 10:42).
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Debates about what Christians may eat and drink without violating Scripture will always be with us.

But putting the issue in terms of bringing glory to God raises the discussion to the proper level. The issue is not how much we can get away with and still be “safe.” The question we have to ask ourselves--about everything we do--is can we do it to the glory of God?

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Psalm 37:1-9.
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TODAY IN THE WORD
Envy can rear its head at the most unexpected times and in the most unlikely places. A reporter once went to Hannibal, Missouri, the hometown of author Mark Twain, to find out details about the writer. There he asked a man if he knew Twain. The man said he did, but scoffed, “I know just as many stories as Mark Twain. The only difference is he just writ ‘em down!”

The fact that famous people inspire envy in others shouldn’t surprise us. The envy that Twain’s fellow Missourian felt over his success comes all too naturally to us. Famous or successful people usually attract more than their share of old classmates, acquaintances and former neighbors who knew the person “back when” and try to downplay his or her accomplishments.

Such remarks may seem harmless. But envy can be truly deadly. There’s little doubt that it belongs on the ancient list known as the Seven Deadly Sins. One old usage of the English word is also used to describe malice, the kind of evil motive that can lead to murder. For example, we’re told that envy was the driving human motivation behind our Lord’s crucifixion.

Pontius Pilate wanted to set Jesus free because he knew that the chief priests and elders were acting out of envy (Matt. 27:12-18). Their hatred of Jesus was evident to everyone who watched. Envy is dangerous. If Satan can get a foothold in our hearts by causing us to look with malice on the success of others, there’s no telling what can happen. To soothe our resentment, we might even find ourselves doing something to bring the other person down.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
If we are looking at others long and hard enough to be envious of them, we have our eyes in the wrong place.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Genesis 26:1-22.
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TODAY IN THE WORD
After hearing John Kennedy’s Inaugural Address in 1961, losing Presidential candidate Richard Nixon bumped into Ted Sorensen, one of Kennedy’s aides. As the two men began discussing the speech, Nixon professed his envy by saying, “I wish I had said some of those things.”

“That part about ‘Ask not what your country can do for you?’” Sorensen inquired.

“No,” Nixon replied. “The part that starts, ‘I do solemnly swear.’”

We might expect a defeated candidate to wish he could replace the winner when the prize is the Presidency. It’s not uncommon in politics for the person or party voted out of power to try to scuttle the efforts of their opponents.

The patriarch Isaac didn’t win any election, but he was the victim of dirty tricks by a band of losers. Genesis 26 records a famine in Canaan that forced Isaac and Rebekah to move to the Philistine city of Gerar. There God appeared to Isaac and reaffirmed His covenant promise to bless the descendants of Abraham (vv. 2-5).

God fulfilled His promise, and Isaac became so wealthy that the locals couldn’t stand it. When envy got the better of the Philistines, they began filling up the wells that Abraham’s servants had dug during his earlier stay in Philistine country (see Gen. 20-21).

Isaac eventually moved on at the request of the Philistine king (v. 16). But God’s covenant blessing on Isaac could not be thwarted. He reopened the old wells and dug several new ones, although the Philistines angrily claimed them. Finally Isaac found a place out of reach of his envious enemies and settled there.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
If you’re being hurt by an envious co-worker, neighbor, or even a family member, you may know how Isaac felt.

It probably wasn’t easy for Isaac to watch his efforts being undone and to know that others were out to sabotage him. But notice that he didn’t fight back when he was wronged--even as Jesus did not lash out at those who had delivered Him to Pilate.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Ecclesiastes 4:4-8.
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TODAY IN THE WORD
Competition is a hallmark of American life. We’re taught at an early age that being the best is what it’s all about. But competition can cut both ways, sometimes with deadly results.

Our nation learned that shocking lesson several years ago when a mother in Houston arranged for the murder of another woman—the mother of her daughter’s chief competitor in a cheerleading competition. The woman’s reasoning was chillingly simple: her daughter would have a better chance to win the competition if her rival was too distraught over her mother’s death to perform well.

We can be grateful that incidents such as that one are relatively rare. But we should ask ourselves—how can the so-called competitive spirit become so corrupted? Today’s text suggests a reason and a solution.

In verse 4 Solomon gives us another word for what we often call competition: envy. When he says that “all labor and all achievement” have their source in envy, he’s using poetic hyperbole. But the point is no less valid. Much of what goes on “under the sun” (see 1:3) is driven by an inordinate desire to outdo the other guy.

The competitive urge is so ingrained in most of us that our immediate reaction is to say, “So what does Solomon expect us to do? Fold our hands and quit?”

Verse 5 answers that question. What Solomon is decrying is the extreme case in which envy drives a person to work until he ruins his health and his enjoyment of life, all for no good reason (vv. 7-8). That kind of madness makes life seem empty and meaningless.

The cure for envy is not sloth (which we will study later this month). The picture of the lazy fool in verse 5 is graphic. Literally, he “eats his own flesh.” He destroys himself, wasting away because he won’t work.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
A lesson such as today’s usually raises the question: “Didn’t Paul tell us to run to win, go for the prize, and all of that?”

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: 1 Corinthians 13:1-4; Philippians 1:14-
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TODAY IN THE WORD
When Dwight L. Moody and Ira Sankey arrived in Great Britain in the summer of 1873, no one knew God would use the pair to shake the British Isles. Over the next two years, Moody and Sankey preached and sang their way up and down the Isles, returning home as world-famous figures. Besides sparking revival, their trip also sparked envy among some members of the clergy. Newspaper articles and pamphlets appeared, attacking Moody’s style and impugning his motives for ministry. But Moody refused to return the venom, largely ignoring his critics.

Actually, Moody was not the first evangelist to suffer from the envy of fellow Christians. The apostle Paul was probably the first to earn that title. In Philippians 1, he describes a situation in which certain “brothers in the Lord” allowed their ministries to become seriously tainted by their envy of Paul (vv. 14-15).

Whatever the details of the case, these men were so envious of Paul and so determined to bring him down that they deliberately tried to add to his legal problems with the Jews and the Roman government.

What a contrast to other brothers who preached Christ out of sincere love and goodwill (v. 16). The ironic thing is that both groups were preaching the correct gospel, so Paul could rejoice in the results whatever might happen to him personally.

But what about those English clergymen who tried to undermine D.L. Moody’s ministry out of envy, or the brothers in Philippi who tried to add to Paul’s sufferings? They fit the description of the “noisy nothings” (1 Cor. 13:1-3) in terms of the reward they could expect for their work.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
John 3:22-30 is a wonderful lesson in how to defuse envy. Some people came to John the Baptist one day with a “p.r. problem.” Jesus seemed to be moving in on John’s territory and was getting all the publicity and the crowds. They wondered, “What are you going to do about this, John?” His answer was simple: “I’m ready to step aside if necessary so Jesus can get all the attention” (see v. 30).

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Ecclesiastes 7:9; James 1:19-20.
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TODAY IN THE WORD
Prominent 18th-century British physician John Hunter suffered from angina. Finding that his attacks were often brought on by anger, Hunter lamented: “My life is at the mercy of any scoundrel who chooses to put me in a passion.”

Unfortunately, those words proved prophetic. At a meeting of the board of London’s St. George’s Hospital, Hunter became involved in a heated argument with other board members. He walked out of the meeting—and dropped dead in the next room.

Heat is an excellent metaphor for anger. Our language is peppered with phrases that relate anger to a sudden rise in someone’s emotional temperature. We speak of getting “hot” or “steamed,” “blowing up,” or “losing our cool.”

Anger is that feeling of displeasure or agitation. It often comes in such a rush that it’s hard to control our actions. Anger definitely deserves its place in sin’s “Hall of Shame” as one of the Seven Deadly (or capital) Sins.

Like sexual desire, anger is a powerful emotion that can quickly blaze out of control. We hear a lot about legitimate versus illegitimate anger, and there are plenty of professional and self-help books written to teach us how to bring our anger under control.

That’s a needed emphasis because anger is too volatile a substance for us to toy with. If you’ll trace the word through the Bible using a concordance, you’ll find that the overwhelming testimony of Scripture is that anger is bad news in anyone’s hands but God’s.

Today’s Scripture verifies that sentiment. Both in Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, Solomon emphasizes the folly of being “quick-tempered” or “quickly provoked.” The person with a short fuse will often find a bomb of anger ready to explode in his lap (Eccl. 7:9).
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Since anger is hard to deal with once it starts to burn, it’s better not to light the fuse in the first place.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Judges 2:1-15; Psalm 2:10-12.
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TODAY IN THE WORD
Abraham Lincoln’s Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton, once complained to the President about a fellow army officer. Lincoln advised him to write the man a letter expressing his anger. Stanton did so, and showed it to Lincoln.

After approving the letter, the President asked Stanton what he planned to do with it. “Send it,” he answered in surprise.

But Lincoln told him to burn the letter. “That’s what I do when I have written a letter while I am angry. It’s a good letter. You had a good time writing it and you feel better. Now burn it and write another.”

When it comes to human anger, it’s almost always a good idea to think twice, count to ten, take a walk, or do whatever it takes to reconsider your response. But God never needs to reconsider or repent for His anger. Because God is holy and perfect, His anger is holy and perfect.

Judges 2 gives us a clear picture of God’s anger in action as He deals with the disobedience and sin of Israel. The time of the judges was a low point in Israel’s history, as God’s people provoked Him to anger by their sin.

We can be grateful that God is “slow to anger” and ready to forgive. But once His anger is kindled, it burns with a purifying and judging fire (see Judges 3:. David said that God “expresses His wrath every day” (Ps. 7:11) against sin and disobedience. No wonder the psalmist counseled the nations to “kiss the Son” (Ps. 2:12). That is, we are to give homage to Messiah, the Lord’s anointed Ruler.

Divine wrath is real, but it is never petty, vengeful, haphazard, or cruel--traits which so often characterize our expressions of anger. Jesus displayed the righteous anger of God on several occasions, but not to avenge a personal wrong or to justify Himself.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Isn’t it embarrassing when you are angry about someone else’s transgression, then turn around and do the same thing yourself?

It is hard to stay angry at the other person in such a situation. The fact is we need to be forgiven, and we need to forgive (Matt. 6:14-15). Think about what this means in terms of our relationship with God. His anger towards us is always justified. If He were to hold us accountable for all of our transgressions, none of us would be saved. But on the cross Jesus Christ absorbed the blows of God’s anger against our sin.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Ephesians 4:25-27.
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TODAY IN THE WORD
On September 6, 1901, William McKinley was shaking hands in a receiving line in Buffalo, New York, when an anarchist named Leon Czolgosz shot the President with a pistol hidden under a handkerchief.

As McKinley slumped into a chair, horrified witnesses knocked Czolgosz to the ground and began beating him. “Don’t let them hurt him,” gasped McKinley.

In the hospital he sighed, “It must have been some poor misguided fellow.” Then he said, “It is God’s way. His will, not ours, be done.” McKinley died eight days later.

The President’s spirit of forgiveness is an extraordinary example of the principle in today’s text. William McKinley was a fervent Christian, known for his gentleness. His actions, even as he neared death, were in keeping with his character. This is the issue we need to understand as we talk about dealing with our anger. Today’s verse gives an often-quoted command concerning anger, but it’s important to understand this verse in context.

In Ephesians 4:17-32, Paul speaks of the need to put off the corrupt “old self” and to put on the “new self,” which is made like Christ (vv. 22-24). Then the apostle spells out in very practical terms what this transformation means in terms of our daily lives.

For example, not only should we resolve anger before the sun goes down, we will see tomorrow that we also need to rid ourselves of the ashes of bitterness and malice (v. 31), that smoldering resentment that seeks to harm another. In other words, the Bible is not just giving us a “fire extinguisher” to spray on our anger every time it flares up. God wants us to go deeper than that, changing those heart attitudes that provide good kindling for anger.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
If you wrote an action step/prayer reminder to help defuse anger as we suggested on Tuesday, take another look at it. Does your idea seem like a good idea, but not really practical? Or is it something you feel you can do with God’s help?

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Ephesians 4:28-32.
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TODAY IN THE WORD
In August, 1814, British troops invaded Washington, D.C. and set fire to the partially finished Capitol and to the President’s mansion. President James Madison was forced to flee the city, followed half an hour later by his wife, Dolly. But the fire left the walls of the two buildings standing. Eventually they were rebuilt and the remaining scars of the fire were hidden by white paint. It is said that this is how the Presidential mansion came to be known as the White House.

With enough whitewash, you can hide a lot of scars and soot. That’s fine for buildings, but unfortunately that’s what a lot of people try to do with their anger. They attempt to hide it with a coating of outward pleasantness. But the anger is there just beneath the surface, waiting to show up when the right circumstances cause the paint to begin peeling.

It’s interesting that in Ephesians 4 Paul turns from the command to cool our anger quickly to this command: “Get rid of all...anger” (v. 31). This is the noun form of the same Greek word for “anger” used in verse 26.

This term suggests a “settled feeling of anger.” We are told not to settle comfortably into our anger, but to snuff it out quickly when it arises and discard it. Otherwise the anger settles in as the devil grabs his foothold (v. 27), and soon it is running things.

Not only is anger itself a poor way to manage life’s frustrations and setbacks, but it lives in a very bad neighborhood. Verse 31 is a “rogues’ gallery” of sins that includes everything from quick outbursts (“rage”) to deep-seated ill will and desire for harm (“malice”).
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Verse 32 of today’s text offers us a God-honoring alternative to a life of anger.

Practicing the virtues of kindness, compassion, and forgiveness will make us more like our heavenly Father, who in Christ has shown us His kindness (Eph. 2:7), (Mark 1:41), and forgiveness (Eph. 1:7).

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Proverbs 26:13-16.
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TODAY IN THE WORD
It’s called “anticipatory dreaming”; and according to a recent article in Christianity Today magazine, it’s the newest rage in lottery advertising. The idea is that although few people will ever win a lottery drawing, everyone can dream. So lottery advertising has shifted to daydreams, luring its victims with the suggestion that anyone “with a dollar and a dream” can become a big winner and take it easy the rest of his days.

If they gave an award for the best use of euphemisms, the lottery industry would take home the prize. “Anticipatory dreaming” has actually been around for a very long time. It used to be known as “trying to get something for nothing,” “hoping to strike it rich,” or looking for that “pie in the sky.”

The Bible has an even better word for it: laziness or sloth, the last of the Seven Deadly Sins. The one who practices sloth is called a “sluggard,” and these verses in Proverbs 26 provide a picturesque description of what this spiritually deadly condition looks like.

As we said, the sin of sloth is as old as the human race. When you consider its opposite, hard work or diligence, you can see why sloth is so common. Ducking hard work has been a popular human pastime since the days of Adam and Eve, when the ground started producing thorns after the couple was forced to leave the Garden of Eden.

The only thing that has changed today is the language of laziness. Whereas the sluggard of Proverbs 26:13 couldn’t come up with anything better than a lion for an excuse, people today might say something such as, “Why work for a living when I can win it all for a buck?”

Obviously not everyone who plays the lottery is lazy. But this “something for nothing” mentality is taking hold of many of our young people. They are told that virtues like hard work, perseverance, and a willingness to save do not pay. They are told that the American dream is dead. Some shrug their shoulders in dismay. “Quit dreaming,” they say, “and start daydreaming.”
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
There are probably as many jokes and one-liners about work as there are about any other aspect of human experience.

But when it comes to slothful living, you won’t hear God laughing. Practicing sloth is like knocking over a full syrup bottle at breakfast. The ooze may spread slowly, but eventually it will overtake everything.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15.
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TODAY IN THE WORD
Thomas Buxton once said: “Laziness grows on people; it begins in cobwebs and ends in iron chains. The more one has to do, the more he is able to accomplish.”

According to a recent survey, only one American in three believes that hard work is worth the effort. Some believers in the church at Thessalonica also had a problem with laziness. They didn’t believe in work--at least not for themselves. These people were idle, refusing to work and expecting to live off the efforts of others.

Hard work was a subject close to Paul’s heart. He paid his own way wherever he went (see 1 Cor. 9), not because he was too proud to accept “charity,” but because he wanted to be an example to the church (2 Thess. 3:7). He had already issued a warning to the lazy (1 Thess. 5:14), but the problem persisted.

It’s easy to breeze past the opening words of today’s text, but they hold the key to the seriousness of the sin of sloth. Paul’s command was issued “in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thess 3:6; see also v. 12). This was not just one person trying to push his work ethic off on everyone else; this message came from God.

A healthy attitude toward work is a principle of Christian discipleship. Not only is it right for us to provide for our own needs; it is also a strong witness to “outsiders” (1 Thess. 4:12) and enables us to help those who are truly in need (Eph. 4:28).

There’s another problem with laziness. The person who isn’t busy with his own work will soon become a busybody in other people’s affairs (2 Thess. 3:11). Laziness is a sure formula for trouble in any church.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
One benefit of working hard is the joy of being able to contribute to God’s work. Paul’s instruction to lay aside a portion of our income each week for His work (1 Cor. 16:2) assumes that we have something to give.

Of course some people have lost their jobs or are unable to work. Even so, Paul’s principle applies. Each of us is responsible for the “treasures” we have been given. We are to offer our best to the Lord, whether it is through our money, our time or our talents.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Proverbs 6:6-11.
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TODAY IN THE WORD
In a 1930s play called The Up and Up actor Pat O’Brien had a very difficult scene to perform. But since the play had earned only mixed reviews, O’Brien was reluctant to spend much time and effort working to perfect the scene. After all, he thought, why knock yourself out on something with no future? But then, the words of today’s verse echoed in his head.

One night, unknown to O’Brien, a film director attended the play. He was so impressed with O’Brien’s skill in that difficult scene that he decided to offer the actor a part in his upcoming film.

Being diligent in our work may not lead to a big career break, but there is a sense in which each day we are performing for a very important Person in the audience. As we have seen several times this month, we are working not just for our employer but for Jesus Christ Himself. He’s the One observing our performance, the “Director” we need to impress.

Proverbs 6 reminds us that God has built the principle of work and its rewards into His universe from top to bottom. If you ever spent part of a childhood summer afternoon lying on the sidewalk watching a row of ants at work, you can understand why Solomon urged the sluggard to study these little workers.

The ants he has in mind here are probably harvester ants, that do exactly what verse 8 describes. These hard-working ants gather and store huge stockpiles of grain in special chambers, insuring that they always have a supply of food.

The call to the sluggard to get out of bed and get to work is ironic in view of the fact that anyone has to lie down to study ants closely. The sluggard should be out lying on the sidewalk, as it were, studying the ants. Then he should get up and imitate their diligence.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
One benefit of working hard is the joy of being able to contribute to God’s work. Paul’s instruction to lay aside a portion of our income each week for His work (1 Cor. 16:2) assumes that we Is Monday a high point or a low point in your week? We’re different in temperament, but whether you’re on top of things right now or you feel like Pat O’Brien--stuck with a “scene” that seems to have no future--you can still find reason to thank God today for His provision.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Romans 12:10-13; Hebrews 6:10-12.
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TODAY IN THE WORD
In his recent book, Are Christians Destroying America?, author Tony Evans relates the story of a farmer who was known for his generosity. His friends couldn’t understand how he could give so much away and yet remain so prosperous. So one day one of his friends asked him how he did it.

“Oh, that’s easy to explain,” the farmer replied. “I keep shoveling into God’s bin and God keeps shoveling into mine, but God has the bigger shovel!”

This is not another lesson on giving, but the farmer’s story illustrates nicely that the principle of hard work and its benefits applies in both the material and the spiritual realms. Specifically, the point is that as we work faithfully and diligently in both areas, we will have not only enough for ourselves, but also enough to share with fellow believers in need.

In Romans 12:10-12, Paul is clearly talking about spiritual zeal, being diligent in our service for the Lord. It’s worth noting that the word “lacking” in verse 11 is translated “slothful” in the King James Version. Paul’s message is unmistakable: laziness in our spiritual service is as unacceptable as laziness in our daily work.

Paul goes on to say: “Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality” (v. 13). This exhortation is part of a long list of imperatives that carries all the way through to the end of Romans 12.

In other words, one way to avoid spiritual laziness is to share our material possessions with those in need. And we can do that only as we are diligent in our own work. This interplay between diligence in the material and the spiritual realms is also suggested in Hebrews 6:10-12.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
One benefit of working hard is the joy of being able to contribute to God’s work. Paul’s instruction to lay aside a portion of our income each week for His work (1 Cor. 16:2) assumes that we Is your spiritual energy level where it ought to be? Here are a few checkpoints that may help you answer that question:

1) Is worship with fellow believers a regular priority, or an occasional pastime?

2) Is it a delight or a drudgery for you to spend time in prayer and Bible study?

3) Do you look for ways to serve others in the body of Christ, or do you look for the nearest exit?

4) Is your giving habitual or haphazard?