Diligent Hands

• How does it feel when you are forced to do something you don’t want to do?

• What happens to people who are unwilling to work?

Diligent hands will rule, but laziness ends in forced labor.
Proverbs 12:24

To be diligent means to take care of our work, and to stick to it. It means to pay close attention and do our very best. In this proverb, King Solomon teaches us that diligent work leads to a type of freedom. Those who work hard will end up in positions of authority. Those who work hard will have more choices in work and in life.

On the other hand, “laziness ends in forced labor.” It is the word “forced” here that should alarm us. When people don’t give their all, they may end up with fewer choices. They may have to do work that they don’t want to do just to survive. Being lazy can make a person a slave to difficult circumstances and work that they hate.

God wants us to work hard. He wants us to do all our work as if we were doing it for him.

PRAYER
Dear God, please help us to be diligent with our work, whatever it may be. Please protect us from laziness. Amen.