God’s Word for Today 10 Oct, 2024 4 A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich. 5 He who gathers in summer is a prudent son, but he who sleeps in harvest is a son who brings shame. - Prov 10:4-5 ESV BE DILIGENT The righteous has God the Father who will surely provide his needs. He is more precious than the birds that He feeds. However, this does not mean he could be slack and lazy. There is no virtue in laziness. A lazy person is unproductive and suffer poverty. On the other hand, the diligent is productive and becomes rich. Our faith that God provides is evidenced by our diligence, is it not?. Scriptures consistently encourages us to diligently work and avoids laziness. Even in the garden of Eden where conditions were perfect for Adam and Eve, God gave Adam the responsibility to work. Genesis 2:15 says, "The LORD God took the man [Adam] and put him in the garden of Eden to work and keep it." In his first letter to the Thessalonians Paul condemns laziness. He writes: "We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all" (1 Thess 5:12–14). Moreover, he said in 2 Thess 3:7–8 to the believers that he and his coworkers were not lazy when they were at Thessalonica. He recalls how they worked night and day so they wouldn't be a burden to any of the believers. In fact, his warning against laziness is stern, "If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat" (2 Thess 3:10). The work ethic of the diligent demonstrates his prudence.[v.5] He who gathers in summer is a prudent son, but he who sleeps in harvest is a son who brings shame A diligent person works at every opportuned time while lazy person misses these opportunities, even during harvesting of crops. They love to sleep. Diligent children do make their parents proud. Laziness leads kids to a bad reputation making parents ashamed of them. What does this mean for us today? We, Christians, ought to diligently serve God, especially in harvesting souls. When Jesus' disciples returned with food from Samaria, they offered Jesus food to eat. But, He replied that His food was to do the will of God (John 4:34). At that time, Jesus saw the crowd of men wearing traditional white robes. He said to them, "Do you not say, 'There are yet four months, then comes the harvest'? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest" (John 4:35). Today is the day for harvesting souls. Tomorrow may be too late! As Jesus admonishes us, “We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.”[John 9:4] As used by Christ here, the "day" refers to the time left for Him to serve and fulfil God's will on earth. On the other hand, the "night" refers to the rapidly approaching time when Jesus will die, ending His earthly work (John 7:33; 12:35). Thus, like Jesus, the day is the most effective time for us to work, but it is also limited. We have only one life and soon it will pass. We have to redeem our time for the days are evil. Watch in YouTube: https://youtu.be/lPuuvKVODmg Listen and FOLLOW us on our podcast Spotify: http://bit.ly/glccfil_spotify Apple Podcast: http://bit.ly/glccfil-applepcast Google Podcast: http://bit.ly/glccfil-googlepcast Audible Podcast: http://bit.ly/glccfil-audible Follow us on various media platforms: https://gospellightfilipino.contactin.bio #gospellightfilipino #godswordfortoday #bookofProverbs