Victory247

“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ “Then the man who had received the one talent came. ‘Master,’ he said,’… I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground.’ “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant!”  Matthew 25:23-26 (NIV)

Jesus was telling a parable that contrasted a diligent man and a lazy man. The diligent man worked hard to grow his money and talents. The lazy man made excuses and rationalized away his lack of effort.

In our culture, having a life of ease with little responsibility is the goal that gets pushed on us. The thought of training, developing and working hard can make us cringe. But, successful and effective athletes, professionals, teachers, parents… work at it. Study it. Pray about it. THEN take breaks to enjoy some well deserved pleasures of life.

We all go through times of dreading what we know is the best use of our time. The key is to do it anyway, to ask God to help us fight through our feelings. When we fail, get ourselves back on the “diligent track”.

Comedian Jim Gaffigan talks about laziness; “You ever find yourself being lazy for no reason at all? Like, you pick up your mail, you go in your house, you realize you have a letter for a neighbor. You ever just look at the letter and go ‘Hm. Looks like they’re never getting this. It’ll take too much energy to go back outside’.

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Heavenly Father, give me the strength to fight through my feelings and my cultural pressure to not be diligent. Thank You for the fulfillment that will follow. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.