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Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest. How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man. - Proverbs 6:6-11

Check out last Sunday’s sermon here. Pastor Mike shared, "Diligence is, doing the appropriate thing at the appropriate time.” Laziness is the opposite of diligence. How do I handle my time? The topics of laziness and diligence are subsumed within this question. We have only been given so much (time). It (time) is a gift. And, we must wield it (time) rightly for the glory of God. Additionally, as so often happens with God’s Word, there are high stakes to how we use it (time). God is not indifferent to lazy living any more than He is to sexual immorality (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). Or, was Jesus only interested in passive devotion when He said, “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48). No, God calls His people to holiness, to devotion. Laziness is not simply that unadmirable but silly term, “procrastination” we often label it to be. It is unholy. An Example in Jonathan Edwards Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), the great theologian, pastor, and thinker, has challenged many with his 70 Resolutions which he began to write in his early twenties. I encourage you to give them a read (the English is a bit challenging but the struggle is worth it). In them, you will find a young adult resolved to live a diligent life, for the glory of God. You will also be challenged to the core if you ponder taking each of these seriously for your life. For example, Edwards says, “5. Resolved, never to lose one moment of time; but improve it the most profitable way I possibly can.” What a challenge! You may read his statements and find them laughably hopeful and realistically impossible. However, Edwards prefaced his resolutions with the following, “Being sensible that I am unable to do anything without God’s help, I do humbly entreat him by his grace to enable me to keep these Resolutions, so far as they are agreeable to his will, for Christ’s sake.” Edwards then writes, “Remember to read over these Resolutions once a week.” In the task of doing the impossible, Edwards relied and remembered. He relied on God’s help, asking for God’s empowering strength. He remembered what he was resolved to do, reading his resolutions each week. In this preface, the heart of diligence is found. God gives the strength, and we prayerfully fight and fight to remember what we are resolved to do. A Proposition Will you consider making these following resolutions for 30 days?

  1. Resolved to pray daily for God’s empowering strength to strive for diligence (to do the appropriate thing at the appropriate time).
  2. Resolved to remember, “...[I am] his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that [I] should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).
  3. Resolved to spend as much time each day in intentional fellowship with God through prayer, God’s Word, and God glorifying content as I spend consuming media (Social Media, TV, Movies, etc.).