Proverbs 13:4 “Lazy people want much but get little, but those who work hard will prosper.”
Proverbs 12:11 “A hard worker has plenty of food, but a person who chases fantasies has no sense.”
Ecclesiastes 5:12 “People who work hard sleep well, whether they eat little or much. But the rich seldom get a good night’s sleep.”
Luke 10:7 ” Don’t move around from home to home. Stay in one place, eating and drinking what they provide. Don’t hesitate to accept hospitality, because those who work deserve their pay.”
1 Corinthians 15:58 ” So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work with enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.”
1 Peter 1:10 “So, dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Do these things, and you will never fall away.”
2 Timothy 2:15 “Work hard so you can present yourself to God and receive his approval. Be a good worker, one who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains the word of truth.”
These are seven of many verses about “WORK”. As we celebrate this Labor Day, let us be joyful about our works. Lets us work harder in our churches, in our jobs, in our marriages, in our families, in our relationships, in our homes, and for GOD’S KINGDOM… Help us to work for You Oh Lord in all we do and let us prosper. Help us to sing praises as we work and let us be joyful in all our works. Help us to change the way we think and feel about our works. Help us not to be lazy but go the extra mile. Lord, I praise you for my church works, my job, my marriage, my kids, my housework, my yard work, and my work for YOUR KINGDOM. Let me be a hard worker and not lazy. Let me work hard and sleep well. Help me to be enthusiastic about my work. Help me to work hard so that I can prove that I am among those YOU have called and chosen. Help me to work hard so I can receive YOUR approval Oh Lord.
I ‘d like to wish everyone a very HAPPY LABOR DAY. May you work hard in all you do.
thedailylily.com 
Proverbs 12:11 “A hard worker has plenty of food, but a person who chases fantasies has no sense.” CF, this verse will give you cold chills! What in the world does it mean?
I see you and Needles are working pretty hard. How is your sleep?
Words without work are just fantasies. You can talk and talk about building a house but unless you get the materials and go to work it’s just fantasy talk. It’s not real because there has been no work to build it. What are blueprints without work… Fantasy. Yes Needles and I are working very hard in the above photo. Even if my hair looked horrible. I sleep great, How bout you?
chickenfarmer, your first Proverb 13:4 reminds me of the story of the Three Little Pgs. Pig one and two took the quick and seeming easy way out (lazy?)and built houses of straw and sticks respectively. But that third pig made the effort, used diligence and built a house of bricks which was the only one the wolf couldn’t blow down. Hard work is lasting and no fantasy…in the end there is something to show for it.
CF, You sure have put some great verses up here, to help remind me that I need to do my work, with joy. Thanks for the reminder.
Yes, CF. Tomorrow is the first day of school for us in this area and I cannot express my thanks to God in great enough terms, for my job, for the opportunity to make a difference in little one’s lives in a profession that I love. Music Education. I intend to hone my attitude about lesson plans, commuting 64 miles a day back and forth to my school, presenting the best possible lessons to the children and a renewed vigor and resolve to do my very best for them and because I belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, to bring Him honor and Glory!
Jesus says, “I work and My Father works”. That ought to be good enough for the rest of us!!
BTW….tThe Shrimp and grits that you ladies cooked up were absolutely divine. What fond memories!!!!
Sleep well all you hard workers for the Lord. May God Bless your day of work tomorrow and may you have joy and peace.
We all are gifted by God and given different talents to be able to work. I have found that many times we may feel that we are doing all the work or others may accuse us of not working. Or, having an attitude that does not show respect or love for one another and the gift God has given each of us. I feel it is very serious to point our fingers at each other for not working. When I hear about work and the way we work the first thing that comes to mind is Mary and Martha. (Luke 10:38-42)
I think it would be a good idea to read Luke and study how the Lord Jesus handled work and work reviews. If we are guilty of pointing fingers unfairly about one another we should make it right in the sight of God and others. When we read about Martha and Mary, their bother and Jesus we read that it is recorded for us all to read. If we have these anonymous moments of talking and accusing then we need to pause and think…..
After reading Luke, sermon by Surgeon on this topic, and talking about proper dress today, I think there is a correlation. Martha and Mary loved Jesus. Martha talent was the organization of her surroundings. She didn’t leave anything undone. Many churches appear that way. They have beautiful edifices and do works. They have a lot of people to serve in the work. Everyone speaks of the beautiful landscape, clean and neat interiors. Beautiful stain glass. A wonderful Martha talent. Mary loved Jesus as well and worked hard but she had a different slant on Jesus coming. When HE came in the door she stopped and sat and listened to the words of HEAVEN. She knew that Jesus did not often come and the work could wait. She was more concerned about the message spoken and how to implement it in her life than the exterior edifice at the time. I guess when we are pointing fingers about the proper clothing being small or great in stature are our hearts about being focused as a church on things of the Lord or are we just about a beautiful edifice with no connection with the Lord JESUS! We know the work that bore the fruit!
As I read a couple of translations of the scripture suggested by Sara from Luke 10 I found the Message had this to say about what Mary vs Martha was doing. “The Master said, “Martha, dear Martha, you’re fussing far too much and getting yourself worked up over nothing. One thing only is essential, and Mary has chosen it—it’s the main course, and won’t be taken from her.”
Rena spoke about the importance of connections to Jesus. Perhaps, from Martha’s perspective, she may have thought (in her narrow focus) that she was connecting by serving Him a meal…taking care of His immediate needs and that her sense of priority should be shared by Mary.
But Mary’s perspective looks different. She may have been sitting at Jesus feet getting the battle plans and strategies for how to be an effective server/laborer in the harvest field that would feed more than just Jesus and themselves a single meal. The work she was engaged in was perhaps going to produce the results that Jesus had instructed Peter to do, “Feed My sheep.” From the Message translation, obviously Jesus knew that Mary was working on the ‘main course’.
It’s interesting that Luke 10 begins by letting us know Jesus priorities for His servants. “What a huge harvest! And how few the harvest hands. So on your knees; ask the God of the Harvest to send harvest hands.”
In Spurgeon’s sermon on Mary and Martha the following is totally quoted directly from that sermon “that Martha’s actions were good, but, if I may use the word, they were commonplace, she must make a great meal for the Lord Jesus, just as for any earthly friend; the spiritual nature of Christ she had forgotten, she was providing nothing for it; but Mary’s estimate of Christ was of a truer order; she looked at him as a priest, she viewed him as a prophet, she adored him as a king, and she had heard him speak about dying, and had listened to his testimony about suffering, and dimly guessing what it meant, she prepared the precious spikenard that before the dying should come she might anoint him. The woman’s deed was full of meaning and of instruction; it was indeed an embodied poem; the odor that filled the house was the perfume of love and elevated thought. She became refined in her actions by the process of musing and learning.
Those who do not think, who meditate not, who commune not with Christ, will do commonplace things very well, but they will never rise to the majesty of a spiritual conception, or carry out a heart-suggested work for Christ. That sitting of Mary was also creating originality of art. I tried two Sabbaths ago to enforce upon you the duty of originality of service as the right thing, that as we wandered everyone his own way, we should each serve God in his own way, according to our peculiar adaptation and circumstances. Now this blessed woman did so. Martha is in a hurry to be doing something — she does what any other admirer of Jesus would do, she prepares food and a festival; but Mary does what but one or two besides herself would think of, she anoints him, and is honored in the deed. She struck out a spark of light from herself as her own thought, and she cherished that spark until it became a flaming act. I wish that in the church of God we had many sisters at Jesus’ feet who at last would start up under an inspiration and say, “I have thought of something, that will bring glory to God which the church has not heard of before, and this I will put in practice, that there may be a fresh gem in my Redeemer’s crown.
This sitting at the Master’s feet guaranteed the real spirituality of what she did. Did you notice when I read what the Master said concerning the pouring of the ointment upon him, “She has kept this for my burial”? He praised her for keeping it, as well as for giving it. I suppose that for months she had set apart that particular ointment, and held it in reserve. Much of the sweetest aroma of a holy work lies in its being thought over and brought out with deliberation. There are works to be, done at once and straightway, but there are some other works to be weighed and considered. What shall I do to praise my Savior? There is a cherished scheme, there is a plan, the details of which shall be prayed out, and every single part of it sculptured in the imagination and realized in the heart, and then the soul shall wait, delighting herself in prospect of the deed, until the dear purpose may be translated into fact. It is well to wait, expectantly saying, “Yes, the set time will come, I shall be able to do the deed, I shall not go down to my grave altogether without having been serviceable; it is not yet the time, it is not yet the appropriate season, and I am not quite ready for it myself, but I will add grace to grace and virtue to virtue, and I will add self-denial to self-denial, until I am fit to accomplish the one chosen work.” So the Savior praised Mary that she had kept this; kept it until the fit moment came before his burial; and then, but not until then, she had poured out and revealed her love.
Ay, it is not your thoughtless service, performed while your souls are half asleep, it is that which you do for Christ with eyes that overflow, with hearts that swell with emotion, it is this that Jesus accepts. May we have more of such service, as we shall have if we have more of sitting at his feet. ”
Christ accepted her, he said she had chosen the good part which should not be taken from her; and if our work be spiritual, intense, fervent, thoughtful, if it springs out of communion, if it be the outgushing of deep principles, of inward beliefs, of solemn gratitudes, then our piety shall never be taken from us, it will be an enduring thing, and not like the mere activities of Martha, things that come and go.
Rena and Debi, thank you for posting these excellent thoughts from spiritual and ingenious men of God.
As I read this I find that Jesus wanted Mary and Martha to have respect for the gifts and callings that God, our Father, has so creatively chosen for each of them. I have always marvelled at the beauty of Martha and Mary but yet they seemly showed disrespect toward one another.
I am evaluating myself to see if I misjudge others and their gifts and tell Jesus things I should not.
As I read the Spurgeon quote from Rena’s comments above..especially this part:
“Yes, the set time will come, I shall be able to do the deed, I shall not go down to my grave altogether without having been serviceable; it is not yet the time, it is not yet the appropriate season, …..and I am not quite ready for it myself, until I am fit to accomplish the one chosen work. So the Savior praised Mary that she had kept this; kept it until the fit moment came before his burial; and then, but not until then, she had poured out and revealed her love.”
It reminded me of a quote that I read in STREAMS DEVOTIONAL. The unsigned author wrote, “When we wait ON God, HE IS WAITING TILL WE ARE READY. When we wait FOR God, (Like Mary did) We are waiting TILL HE IS READY.”
I have read a quote and I believe it went something like this….”choose a job/career that you like, and you will never work a day in your life”, seemed appropriate here??
Needles that seems true. It may have to do with attitude to or perspective on the word ‘work.’
Also, my thought is that if we are in the vocation that God chose for us and designed us with talents to be in, that should produce a joy and contentment. For me this proved to be true. Many years ago I was going to college to be an architect because I thought that was what I wanted to be. However, there was an unrest within me and I really wasn’t very joyful or content in that program. It was a struggle. I talked, complained and wrestled with the Lord about it quite a while. Finally, one day I came to the place that I was able to say to Him that I would be content in what He had for me in these circumstances. I stopped asking and struggling with Him about it. It wasn’t long after this incident that I was praying one night about other things and I heard His ‘voice’ speak to me so clearly and tell me “I want you to transfer into agriculture.” I went back to my dorm room, searched through the catalogue of programs in agriculture and felt like the Lord said “horticulture.” The next day I began to take the steps to make the transfer. Taking courses in that curriculum was a joy; the subject matter seemed ‘easier’ to me, not a struggle.
Looking back years later at the journey through this vocation, I see that the Lord knew me and what he had made and gifted me for. I now teach the subject to high school students and can honestly say that I enjoy my ‘work’. I hear many others around me say on Monday that they can’t wait for Friday. That’s not a sentiment I share and for that I am grateful to the Lord.
Fantasies! CF has told us this is basically all talk and no show. My having worked in Christian ministry for years have seen and heard much talk and very little show. Promises upon promises and the words spoken seem to fade from the speaker as if spiritual dementia has taken it’s place inside the being without much hope.
Rena has posted Spurgeon’s sermon giving me the indication that commonplace work is different than taking up a road trip with Jesus. Check Rena’s second parag. of her quote of Spurgeon. This makes me think we should often check our work for it’s usefulness for the now. “…rise to the majesty of spiritual conception…” gives me the impression we can have 12 children as easily as 1 .
Needles, I believe your very famous quote is attributed to a very wise man, Confucius.
Debi,
God always answers us, when we seek Him, doesn’t He? He sure directed you, when you sought His will, for your vocation. God bless you and may the students you teach see the joy you have for horticulture and the Lord.
Thanks for the info., Sara. (Confucius)
‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ Matt. 25:23
I think this kind of joy and commendation from the Lord can only come if we have used our talents in a way that brings eternal usefulness…people added to God’s kingdom. God’s heart is for the world that ‘none should perish’.