The slothful man saith, There is a lion in the way; a lion is in the streets. As the door turneth upon his hinges, so doth the slothful upon his bed. The slothful hideth his hand in his bosom; it grieveth him to bring it again to his mouth.–Proverbs 26:13-15

When I was a boy there was a patch of woods near the railroad track, a mile or so from our house, that was called Hobo Jungle. So it was pretty common for hobos to come through our area looking for a handout. Mom usually managed to give them something to eat. Most were too lazy to work or they wouldn’t have been in their condition. They just lived off the kindness of others. I thought of that this week when I read this story, told by Paul Chappell, about a hobo who was riding trains to make his way out west.

He stopped in the town of Denver, hoping that people would have pity on him and give him something to eat. But everywhere he went, he seemed to get the same response. Finally in disgust he made his way back to the train station. Under his breath he muttered, “This has got to be the laziest town I’ve ever been to. Every person I met wanted me to do work for him!”

A lazy person can always find some excuse not to work—no matter how ridiculous it is. That’s because he has surrendered everything for sake of avoiding labor. Yet taking the path of least resistance is a guarantee of never accomplishing anything good for this world or the next. Every work of lasting importance requires labor, effort, and sacrifice. Whether the world values work or not, we as believers have a responsibility to be diligent in our efforts and overcome laziness.

It is important that we understand the role God intends for work to play in building and strengthening our character. Adam had assignments and responsibilities even before the Fall. The thing that changed was that work became harder. God told Adam, “cursed is the ground for thy sake” (Genesis 3:17). The necessity to labor and struggle is good for us. Avoiding work is like not taking medicine because it tastes bad. It may avoid temporary unpleasantness, but in the end we are harming ourselves.—Rather than making excuses and seeking ways to get out of work, diligently do the tasks that are set before you.

“But be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”–James 1:22
Commenting on this verse Vance Havner wrote:

   Chief among the besetting sins of the saints is hearing without doing. And it is a grievous sin, for “to him that knows the good he ought to do and fails to do it, it is sin.” In Ezekiel’s day they heard the preacher, complimented him, told others about him, but did nothing about the message. The centuries have passed, and today we listen to preachers, invite others to hear them, congratulate them with that very doubtful compliment, “I enjoyed your sermon.” But we do nothing about it.

      Let it never be forgotten that, although we may do nothing about the Word we hear, the Word will do something to us. The same sun melts ice and hardens clay, and the Word of God humbles or hardens the human heart. Truth heard and not acted upon is a dangerous thing. Spiritual impulses which are not translated into action have a disastrous reaction.

      It is well known that many movie-goers who are continually being excited and stirred in the world of make-believe become emotional drunkards. But there are also religious drunkards and Bible-conference drunkards and church drunkards, who go from meeting to meeting, constantly being stirred but doing nothing about it, until their souls become fed-up, their moral muscles deteriorate and they lose their capacity for being aroused. Presently they suffer from a moral let-down, a religious hangover. They delude themselves. They have heard the best preachers, they have read the best books, they have had their ears tickled and their emotions thrilled, but as with a stimulant the doses have to be increased and after awhile there is no effect, no matter what they read or hear. An alarm clock that fairly blasts us out of bed on the first morning may eventually fail to arouse us. Something like that happens to those who hear and take no action upon it.

      It is a serious thing to trifle with any emotion and not carry it through to its proper and legitimate conclusion. And it is most dangerous to play with the holy stirrings of God’s Spirit through His Word. I had rather take chances with forked lightning any time. For the Word of God is dynamite, it is a hammer, a fire, a sword; messengers of the Word are a savour of life unto life and of death unto death. The man who habitually hears the Word of God and does nothing about it is the greatest of fools, for he fools himself.

It is common to hear people say,”I’ve reached my limit”, “Enough is enough”, or “I’ve run out of patience”, as though they are now free to do as they please, but their assumption is wrong. We never have the right to do wrong—even when we’ve been done wrong! In Luke 17:3-10 Jesus taught His disciples that forgiveness is an attitude of the heart, rather than a matter of math. John Henry Jowett put it like this:

We are always inclined to set a limit to our moral obligations. We wish, as we say, “to draw a line somewhere.” We want to appoint a definite place where obligation ceases, and where the moral strain may be released. The Apostle Peter wished his Master to draw such a line in the matter of forgiveness. “Lord, how oft shall I forgive? Till seven times?” He wanted a tiny moral rule which he could apply to his brother’s conduct.

Not so the Lord. Our Master tells His disciple that in those spiritual realms relations are not governed by arithmetic. We cannot, by counting, measure off our obligations. Our repeated acts of forgiveness never bring us nearer to the freedom of revenge. No amount of sweetness will ever permit us to be bitter. We cannot, by being good, obtain a license to be evil. The fact of the matter is, if our goodness is of genuine quality, every act will more strongly dispose us to further goodness. It is the counterfeit element in our goodness that inclines us to the opposite camp. It is when our forgiveness is tainted that we anticipate the “sweetness” of revenge.

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.–Phil. 1:21
I don’t know whether to call this my favorite verse or my most important verse, but I do know that it is the one that comes to my mind most often. It should be a key verse in the life of every Christian. If what Paul says isn’t true in your life you are on the wrong road. Whatever life might be to others, Paul says, “to me” it is “Christ”. That is as it should be. He describes his reason for living in the one word “Christ”. What would it be for you? What are you living for? Whom do you aim to please? What/Who do you value above all else?

Christ is not only our life (we would be spiritually dead without Him), He is also our reason for living. Christ was the source of Paul’s life, the aim of his life , and the end of his life. He was his all in all. So what is life all about for you? What are you living for? Possessions? Pleasure? Power? Position? Popularity? What is it? You can say whatever you want, but your actions speak louder than your words–they prove what it is. All the talk in the world doesn’t change the facts. If we truly treasure Christ above all, if He is really our reason for living, it will show by how we spend our time, energy, and money. So, what do you say now? Is it really Christ you are living for or self? Are you seeking to please Him or yourself? If you are living for anything other than Christ you are wasting your life. Admitting the truth might be embarrassing, but we are endangered if we don’t.

Living for Christ is Him living through you. It is not just you letting Him be a part of your life–He becomes everything , not just something, about your life. Why would you want to live for anything else? Can you see any advantage to living for self? Can you think of anyone who is better off by relegating Christ to a place of lesser importance than something else? I can’t either. When we sing,”It pays to serve Jesus” we are saying the truth–truer words were never spoken. It pays everyday and in every way, forever! You could say that living for Christ is an investment that pays eternal dividends. “When “to live is Christ”, “to die is gain”. And what glorious gain it will be! Just think of every promise in the Bible and let your imagination run wild and when all has been said and done, it has never “entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him”(1 Cor. 2:9). So death is gain, not loss!

If you have settled the matter of being ready to die, by trusting Christ as your Lord and Savior, then you need to focus on your reason for living. In both instances Christ is the answer.

I gave them up unto their own hearts’ lust: and they walked in their own counsels– Psalm 81:12

Sin results in separation from God. But here we are also reminded that it means being joined completely to our own desires and schemes.

At first glance, this might not sound so bad. While we certainly don’t want to be separated from God, the thought of being married to our own desires and plans doesn’t seem to be much of a penalty. Isn’t that more like a dream come true?

In reality this is judgment; this is punishment. Those who persist in sin and rebellion, God leaves to their own lust and allows them to walk in their own counsels. But notice that it does not say that the lust is fulfilled, or that the plans prosper.

When God gives a person up to his own lusts, his lusts consume him without end, because there is no true or lasting or deep satisfaction apart from God. It is to forever hunger, without ever being filled.

Similarly, the person who is left to her own counsel finds that she is like a blind person at the street corner, without a guide. She is free to walk any direction she pleases, but there is danger and destruction on every side.

As C.S. Lewis explained, there are two kinds of people in the end—those who say to the Father, “Thy will be done,” or those to whom the Father says, “thy will be done.” The great punishment for sin is getting our own way.–From, “A Good Thing”