Wise Decisions: Pt.10  Diligence   	tape 170	1-26-03

One of Aesop’s fables speaks of a farmer who was about to die.  And desiring to impart to his sons a secret of great value, he called them around him and said, “My sons, I am shortly about to die.  I would have you know, therefore, that in the vineyard there lies a hidden treasure.  Dig, and you will find it.”  As soon as their father was dead, the sons took spade and fork and turned up the soil of the vineyard over and over again, in their search for the treasure, which they believed to lie buried there.  They found none, however; but the vines, after so thorough a digging, produced a crop such as had never before been seen.  There is no treasure without toil.  There is no treasure without toil.

One of the influences on our culture is what even people in the world sometimes call the Judeo-Christian work ethic.  
 
What is the work ethic?  Everyone in every culture works.

The work ethic, though, is the word our culture has come up with to describe the biblical concept of diligence.  

Anyone will work if he has a strong enough motive, but the diligent man will work hard just because he’s diligent.  

The diligent person sees the value of hard work itself.

It’s a good thing to work hard even when you don’t have to.

The opposite of diligence is laziness.  The lazy man won’t ever get a job done unless there is enough pressure.

6:6-11 Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!  7 It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, 8 yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest. 

No one makes the ant work.  It just does it because it’s a diligent kind of a bug.

In John 5:16-17 Jesus was being hassled for being active on the Sabbath.
So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him. 17 Jesus said to them, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working."

God is active.  He works constantly – not just for the sake of work, but because it’s part of His good, perfect, wonderful nature to be productive and creative. 

So activity, productivity and creativity are good, God-like qualities that glorify God.

That’s why diligence and productivity and hard work are virtues.  

God is like that, so He designed this world in such a way that things will tend to go better for you in life if you are a hard worker.

Everyone battles laziness at some point – even workaholics. 

A guy might spend 80 hours a week in the office, and work hard every one of those 80 hours, and still be lazy when it comes to disciplining his kids. 

He tells his kids to get ready for bed and they disobey, but he’s too lazy to get up off the couch to discipline them.

Some people are too lazy to get up and go to work.  Others are too lazy to leave the office and come home.

A woman might be extraordinary at getting housework done – working hard all day, but then lazy when it comes to writing letters or balancing the checkbook.

You might be the type who, the moment some big chore needs doing you are out there working up a sweat all day getting it done.  And yet when it comes to talking to someone you’ve offended or straightening out some relationship, you tend to put things off.

You might work hard on relationships with other people, but be lazy when it comes to seeking God in prayer and Scripture.

So this is a subject that is of vital interest to all of us.

We are in the midst of a study of the major themes in the book of Proverbs, and we are finding that each one of these themes is critical for knowing how to make wise decisions and finding God’s will.

And if we are ever going to be able to make good judgment calls and wise decisions in life, we are going to have to understand the value of this virtue.
The Value of Diligence 

Diligent people tend to be successful in what they do.  They may try and fail and try and fail just like the rest of us, but that virtue of diligence keeps them from becoming lazy, and sooner or later it pays off.

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

The diligent are the people who just seem to come out on top in life.  The lazy people see that and assume they just got a lot of lucky breaks.

It’s amazing how “lucky” diligent people tend to be.  

Even if you are weak or lacking in ability, diligence can make up for that.

30:24-28 "Four things on earth are small, yet they are extremely wise: 25 Ants are creatures of little strength, yet they store up their food in the summer; 

You can be as weak as an ant and still do OK if you are diligent.

Makes you valuable 

The virtue of diligence will make you a valuable commodity to employers.  There is nothing an employer needs more than diligent employees.

25:13 Like the coolness of snow at harvest time is a trustworthy messenger to those who send him; he refreshes the spirit of his masters. 

Laziness, on the other hand, makes you a liability.

10:26 As vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is a sluggard to those who send him. 
13:17 A wicked messenger falls into trouble, but a trustworthy envoy brings healing. 

You become an annoyance and irritant to your employer, because he can never just count on you to get something done.

So the diligent man becomes highly sought after, and that results in a lot of benefits.

For example: prestige.
Prestige 

22:29 Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will serve before kings; he will not serve before obscure men. 

There are people in this world who are generally respected by those around them, and others who are sort of tolerated.  And usually it’s the diligent who are respected.

If you are a hard worker, after a while people will tend to look up to you.

A woman who doesn’t sit around and watch daytime TV, and who isn’t lazy, but who is diligent…

After a while people will begin to respect her.  Maybe no one sees her when she is home alone diligently working, but over time that has an effect.

People notice her home is in order, her kids are well taken care of, etc.  And she earns people’s respect.

Wealth 

Another result tends to be wealth.

28:19 (12:11) He who works his land will have abundant food, but the one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty. 

When you are lazy, a day’s work for a day’s pay doesn’t seem worth it.  So lazy people are always looking for shortcuts to wealth.

They go out and buy lotto tickets, they get into multi-level marketing, they invest in risky investments… they spend their money on how to get rich books…(if the techniques in those books really worked, why would those guys go through all the headache of writing a book?)

Don’t waste your energy on looking for shortcuts.  Work hard, be industrious, and things will eventually tend to start bouncing your way.

14:23 All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty. 

There are some people who always have some great ideas for making a ton of money.  But they always seem to be struggling to pay their bills.  

If they would have fewer brilliant ideas and more days of sweat and hard work, they would be much better off.

Mere talk won’t get you anywhere.  Think about that principle in relation to the church.

How much mere talk is there in the church – in comparison with hard work?

There is never any shortage of mere talk.  “Someone ought to do this.  We ought to have that.  Someone should have taken care of that.”  

If we reduced the amount of mere talk by half, and increased the amount of hard work 2 fold, we would be a lot more fruitful.

Success always requires hard work.

14:4 Where there are no oxen, the manger is empty, but from the strength of an ox comes an abundant harvest. 

The sluggard figures the best way to have a nice, clean, low-maintenance barn is to get rid of the animals.  Then you never have to clean up their mess.

The problem is, what are you going to do when it’s time to plow?

When you see the word “ox” that’s Hebrew for “tractor.”  They used oxen to plow, we use machinery.  

If you get rid of your tractor, you can save a bundle on insurance and fuel costs and tractor payments… and you never have the headaches of repairs and maintenance…

The only drawback is you get no harvest and you go bankrupt.

This is great principle for people in a church plant to understand.  So often a church will face a financial pinch and say, “We could save money by reducing our outreach, and putting an end to this ministry, reducing pastoral staff, etc.”

The problem is, that results in a decline in the fruitfulness of the ministry.

Sometimes a church may need to cut back on some things, but we need to be careful that we aren’t getting rid of the tools for ministry just to save money or time and effort.

You can also apply this principle to your own, personal resources.  

Whatever it is that’s going to bring a great harvest in your life is something that takes some maintenance.  

Any time you develop some great ability, that ability serves as a kind of liability in that it takes up time and resources. 

When I used to play the trumpet, that paid great dividends in my life.  I got some wonderful opportunities as a result of that.  

But it was also a burden.  I had to clean the stalls, so to speak.  To maintain that I had to practice hours every day.     

Now I’m free from that burden, but I don’t get any of the rewards of being a good musician.

So underline that in your Bible.  
14:4 Where there are no oxen, the manger is empty, but from the strength of an ox comes an abundant harvest. 

Another way to say that is, “Either you shovel the manure, or you won’t have manure to shovel!”

You think, “My house is a mess, my kids are driving me crazy, my husband is a pain in the neck…”  Tell it to the single woman who is desperately lonely.

Either you shovel the manure or you won’t have manure to shovel.

Don’t forget about the Lord’s rebuke of the lazy servant in Mt.25:26 where He portrays Himself as a master who reaps where He did not sow.

God expects a crop from your life, so don’t be lazy and get rid of the tools it will take to sow for that crop – even though those tools take up a lot of resources.  

So diligence and the willingness to work hard is of tremendous value in life.  On the other hand, laziness is destructive to your life.

Laziness is destructive

1:32 the complacency of fools will destroy them;

5:22-23  The evil deeds of a wicked man ensnare him; the cords of his sin hold him fast. 
23 He will die for lack of discipline, led astray by his own great folly. 

18:9 One who is slack in his work is brother to one who destroys. 

You have two guys.  One is a destroyer – he destroys things.  The other is a sluggard.  He’s a slacker in his work.

They are brothers, because they both end up with the same result.

The destroyer goes into someone’s beautiful landscaped yard and trashes it.

The lazy man just never gets around to taking care of his yard.

So in the end, the two yards look the same.

If you are lazy that’s just the same as being destructive, because you are ruining that potentially good end product that you could have if you just worked hard.
 
By being lazy you are “destroying” all the wonderful things you could be producing if you worked hard.

24:30-34 I went past the field of the sluggard, past the vineyard of the man who lacks judgment; 
31 thorns had come up everywhere, the ground was covered with weeds, and the stone wall was in ruins.  32 I applied my heart to what I observed  and learned a lesson from what I saw: 33 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest--  34 and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man.   

Poverty

Instead of wealth you will have poverty.
10:4-5 Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth. 

And that applies not just to money, but to everything you desire in life.
13:4 The sluggard craves and gets nothing,  but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied. 

None of your desires will be satisfied.

21:25-26 The sluggard's craving will be the death of him, because his hands refuse to work. 
26 All day long he craves for more, but the righteous give without sparing. 

You might really desire a strong marriage, but you’re too lazy to put enough effort into it.

You might have a dream ministry that would be perfect for you, but you aren’t willing to lay the foundation, get the training, learn the missing skills, put in your time to work your way into it, etc.

You wish you were in shape.  You wish you were closer to your kids.  You wish your house weren’t a mess, you wish you understood the Bible more – you have lots of desires.

But the lazy person just has desire after desire go unfulfilled.  God set this world up so that generally speaking, desires are fulfilled only through diligence. 

That’s not to say diligence is the only factor in success.  You also need to have a sound plan.  You can work hard at a bad idea, and not get anywhere.

21:5 The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty. 

You need to think things through so you don’t waste your hard work.

But don’t spend all your time thinking and planning.  Spend most of your time working hard.

How To Become Diligent 

1.  Be diligent for diligence’ sake

Pursue the virtue just because it’s a virtue.  The more you establish a pattern of diligence – even in small areas where it’s not all that important, the more energy you will tend to have, and the easier it will be to be diligent in other things that really are important.

Diligence tends to make you a more energetic person.

And the reverse is true as well.  Laziness makes all work harder.

15:19 The way of the sluggard is blocked with thorns, but the path of the upright is a highway. 

When you get into a pattern of laziness, even the easiest tasks are hard.  When you are diligent, harder tasks seem easier.

For that reason I’ve been working on training myself to be diligent in every little thing.

The part of my day I hate the most, by far, is my morning pushups.  And I found myself getting ready to do them, and a lot of times I would just lay there on the floor for several minutes trying to get up the motivation to get going.

I got into the habit of doing that whenever I was real tired, until finally I realized that was a pattern of laziness that was becoming a drag on my whole day.

So I decided that whenever I do pushups, I would start immediately, as soon as I got down on the floor.

And I try to adopt that way of doing things into every little detail of life.

Do that hardest job first.  Start right away.  Put that thing away right now, not later.  Etc.

Living like that will establish a pattern of diligence that will carry in to the more important things in life.

But if you allow laziness to creep in in this little area and that little area, the next thing you know your way is blocked with thorns.  Living life is like trying to walk through knee-deep molasses.  

But 19:15 Laziness brings on deep sleep, and the shiftless man goes hungry. 

Leave that thing laying out, leave that cabinet door hanging open, put bill paying off tuntil tomorrow, linger on the couch before getting up and going to bed, hit the snooze over and over in the morning…

And the next thing you know your whole life is like you are half asleep, and you can’t seem to get yourself to do anything.

And then you end up in ch.26.  Listen to this:

26:14-16 As a door turns on its hinges, so a sluggard turns on his bed. 

The lazy person feels like he’s attached to his bed like a door to hinges.  He can’t seem to get up.  The best he can do is turn over. 

Laziness weakens you so everything is hard, and you get even more lazy.  It’s a downward spiral until you finally get to
26:15 (19:24)
The sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he is too lazy to bring it back to his mouth. 

You can’t get yourself to do anything.  You can barley bring your fork up from your plate to your mouth.

That proverb is humorous, but it also illustrates another point of wisdom that shows the value of diligence.  

Laziness tends to quit in the middle of a task a lot.  

I start out all motivated, I dive in to something, then some time goes by, it begins to feel monotonous, and for whatever reason I can’t seem to remember why it was that I thought this job was worth doing. And so I quit.

Proverbs like 26:15 illustrate the foolishness of doing half the work for none of the benefit.   

That is an unwise use of your time and resources.  12:27 The lazy man does not roast his game, but the diligent man prizes his possessions. 

The person who quits all the time is like the guy who goes to all the trouble to go hunting, and he gets something.  But then he’s too lazy to roast it.  So he goes hungry.

He’s done all that work, and he receives zero benefit from it.

You need the virtue of diligence to help you push past the times when you can’t see the value of your project.

“Suddenly this project doesn’t seem worth it.  But I’m going to press on just because I’m a diligent person.”

Another way to think about it is this: since you can’t undo the work you have done in the past, just forget about that and focus only on the future.

When I was a kid I used to shovel people’s walks whenever it snowed to make money.  There were times I would be in the middle of a huge job and realize, “I didn’t charge enough for this job.”

And I was tempted to quit.  But then I got to thinking, “I can’t go back in time.  I’ve worked a long time, but that doesn’t matter.  It’s in the past…”

“The only thing that matters is if I quit now, I get no money.  But if I finish the last hour, I get all the money.  So right now it’s as if I will get all that money for one hour’s worth of work.”

When you are tempted to quit realize that you can get all of the benefit just for finishing what’s left of the work.  That’s a great deal!

That brings us to the next point.

2. Keep the incentive before you.

16:26 The laborer's appetite works for him; his hunger drives him on. 

Common day laborers will break their backs working hard all day long on a miserable job.  How can they stay so motivated?  Because they really want to eat.

Keep in mind the reason you started the job.  If you are the type who tends to lose your motivation, maybe write it down.

If you commit to coming to the Sunday night prayer or a small group or a ministry – write down your reasoning for what that’s so important, so when your motivation wanes, and you don’t feel like following through, you can be reminded.

I mentioned before that we all struggle with laziness in some areas.

It’s also true that we all tend to be diligent is some areas.  If something is important enough to you, you will tend to find yourself to be diligent in that area.

So in areas where you struggle, spend some time thinking through the reason why that thing is important, and that will help you become more diligent.

3. Don’t over-value rest

20:13 Do not love sleep or you will grow poor; stay awake and you will have food to spare.

It’s OK to enjoy sleep, but see to it that you don’t fall in love with sleep.  Keep the flesh in check.

The same goes for any pleasure. 

21:17 He who loves pleasure will become poor; whoever loves wine and oil will never be rich. 

23:21 drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags. 

A partying kind of lifestyle, staying up real late, indulging all your desires – that kind of living will sap your strength and make it hard to be diligent. 

Give some precise thought to exactly how important rest is in relationship to other things.

What good does rest do?  Does it accomplish any eternal end?  No.  The only thing it’s good for is restoring your ability to be diligent. 

So for that purpose rest is good.   But when I begin to indulge in rest just because I like resting, I will rest too much.

6:9 How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep? (How many times are you going to hit the snooze?) 10 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest-- 11 and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man.   

When you are tempted to be lazy, and you want to use your need for rest as a rationalization for it, realize that too much rest doesn’t make you rested.  It makes you more tired.

Becoming diligent will make life seem like a highway instead of a path of thorns.

4. Learn when it’s important to be energetic

It’s impossible to be energetic all the time.  We need rest.  Even Jesus needed rest.

The key is to understand when it’s wise or unwise to rest.

Foolish people take a break at the wrong times, and it costs them.

10:5  He who gathers crops in summer is a wise son, but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son. 

There are some seasons when you can’t afford to rest.

I don’t have to be working on my marriage every moment of every day.  There are times I can rest from thinking about that.  

But I’m a fool if I do that at the wrong times.  If there is a moment when I could really encourage my wife by doing or saying something…

Or if there is a moment when by doing nothing I cause her great distress – those are the wrong times for me to be relaxing.

There are some days you can wake up and just decide, “I think I’ll just flake out today.  I’m not going to do anything – just relax.”

But be careful when you do that.  The fool will try and do it on the day the bills are due, or when important things need to be done.

Rest during times when it won’t be so costly.  

The imagery in Proverbs is of the farmer.  There are times when a farmer can relax.  After the fields are sown, and before the harvest time, things aren’t so urgent.  If the tractor needs fixing, it can wait until tomorrow or the next day.

But the farmer who is lazy during harvest time is a fool.  That is no time to be taking rest.

I realize you are not farmers, but the principle applies in a lot of ways.  

If you have a job in which the income ebbs and flows, you understand this.  People whose income comes from commissions, for example, may make a whole lot of money one month and nothing at all the next six months.

The wise man will plan for that, and work especially hard during the times when work is available. 

The fool will use the time of prosperity as an excuse to relax and take a little extra time off.  Then when the lean times come he doesn’t have enough.

Be strategic in when you rest.  If you start some ministry at church, and people are especially receptive, or if it’s questionable whether it’s going to get off the ground – that’s a time to work hard.

The wise man might decide to postpone a vacation or come even when he doesn’t feel good during a time like that.

Later, when the situation has changed, and it’s that as big a deal if he is there every time, he might use that time to take a break.

It’s foolish to miss opportunities during productive times.

20:4 A sluggard does not plow in season; so at harvest time he looks but finds nothing. 

A fool will procrastinate until it’s too late.  If you don’t get your field plowed in time for sowing season, it will be too late.

When you are tempted to put something off, ask yourself, “Honestly, when will I do this?”

Sometimes I’ll have some mail to go through, or something that needs to be cleaned up or put away, and I’ll tell myself, “I don’t want to do that right now.  I’ll do it another time.”  It helps to ask myself, “What other time?  What circumstances are going to come up that will be such that you will decide to do it?”

And very often I realize there aren’t going to be any circumstances in the near future that are any better than right now for doing this, which means I’ll put if off then too, and it will never get done – or I’ll end up having to do it when circumstances aren’t as favorable as they are now.

So learn to set good priorities. 

24:27 Finish your outdoor work and get your fields ready; after that, build your house. 

First things first.  A homesteader who spends his first several months building a house will have a wonderful, warm, comfortable place for his family to starve when harvest time comes and no crop has been planted.

We always want to do the task that has the most immediate reward first.  But the wise man thinks through his priorities to discover which things must be done first.  

Prioritize your work, and be willing to do the hard things first.

Our tendency is to always do the easiest task first (or the thing that has the most gratifying payoff), and we put off the other things.

You are deciding between going and working out, or doing this big task that’s right in front of you.  You can dive in to that task and 30 minutes from now have the satisfaction of having that done, whereas if you work out – you won’t see any benefit from that until months from now.

So we relegate those things that have a slow or imperceptible payoff to the lowest priority.  But in the long run, they may be the most important.

If I get to be 50 years old, and I’ve neglected my health, now I may not be able to do much of anything.

5. Put energy into things that will pay off in the future. 

Try to think beyond this week or this month or this year.  Thinking of the future will help you be more diligent.

27:23-27 Be sure you know the condition of your flocks, give careful attention to your herds; 
24 for riches do not endure forever, and a crown is not secure for all generations. 
25 When the hay is removed and new growth appears and the grass from the hills is gathered in, 26 the lambs will provide you with clothing, and the goats with the price of a field. 27 You will have plenty of goats' milk to feed you and your family and to nourish your servant girls. 

The more you see the bigger picture, the more motivation you will have to be diligent.

If you work for someone else, if you’re wise, you will have a goal of see him make a profit.  

The more success he has, the more money he will have available for things like your salary and bonuses.  

When I worked for Dominos it amazed me how a lot of the drivers cared nothing about the image of the store.  They didn’t go out of their way to make customers happy with Dominos.

Then they would complain when the store wasn’t very busy and they weren’t getting very many runs.

What kind of fool can’t make the connection in his mind that it’s in his best interests for his employer to flourish?

I just marvel at the staggering foolishness of union workers who will make demands that force their employer into bankruptcy.  

27:18 He who tends a fig tree will eat its fruit, and he who looks after his master will be honored. 

The point of that is that you should take care of the hands that take care of you.

If you need fruit from a tree, take care of that tree.  And if you want honor, look after your master.

Don’t just seek salary and advancement.  Seek the prosperity and success of the one you work for. 

6. Don’t make excuses.

22:13 The sluggard says, "There is a lion outside!" or, "I will be murdered in the streets!" 

26:13 The sluggard says, "There is a lion in the road, a fierce lion roaming the streets!" 

Sluggards tend to be incredibly pessimistic.  “I’ll waste hours and hours putting together a resume, and no one will even look at it.  What’s the point?”

“People work their tail off trying to get in shape, and then they get hit by a bus, or get cancer, and it’s all a waste.  Why bother?”

“If I break my back doing this extra work the boss probably won’t even notice – or he’ll give someone else the credit.”

If you are prone to laziness, stop making excuses, and listen to wise counsel.  Listen to what the people around you are saying.

26:16 The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who answer discreetly. 
----------------
If you want an illustration of diligence, go back and read 31:10ff.

God is glorified in productive activity.  That’s one thing the monks didn’t understand.  

He doesn’t want us sequestered in a monastery somewhere spending all day in prayer and meditation.

When we are active and productive and creative we are acting like Him, and that pleases Him.

He’s given us a task.  Let’s be diligent until He comes.