-July 26, 2022-
Good morning, happy Tuesday,
“The soul of a lazy man desires, and has nothing; But the soul of the diligent shall be made rich.”
(Proverbs 13:4).
There is a vast difference between being lazy and being diligent. When we are born into this world we have an old, sinful nature. When we are born again we have a new nature. We never lose the old nature until we leave this world. The two natures are in constant opposition to one another. There are steps we can take to feed the new nature, such as prayer, reading the Word, and having fellowship with other believers. There are also things we can do to starve the old nature, such as denying ourselves, taking up our cross, and following Jesus.
The word diligent is defined as, “having or showing care and conscientiousness in one’s work or duties. It is characterized by steady, earnest, and energetic effort.” Solomon says that the diligent soul is made rich.” This is true in business, sports, education, and in all pursuits in life. Lazy people never make it, they are always missing out. Diligent people excel and exceed expectations. Diligence in our spiritual lives is even more important. To grow, to please God, and to serve Him takes diligence. Proverbs 12:24 says, “The hand of the diligent will rule. But the lazy man will be put to forced labor.”
We must challenge ourselves to strive for diligence on a daily basis lest we fall into bad habits of laziness, procrastination, and slothfulness. As soon as we let our prayers and Bible study slip or slide just a bit, we will suffer spiritually. If we aren’t going forward, we will go backward. Backsliding may be easy to spot in others, but is much harder to detect in ourselves. We must hold ourselves accountable to the Lord and to one another.
There is so much opposition and so many distractions in this world. The devil delights when we get sidetracked and detoured doing things, that in the light of eternity, just aren’t important at all. When we get to heaven we may have two regrets: what didn’t do that we should have done, and what we did that we shouldn’t have done. Why not think about this now? It is all about priorities and being diligent in the the most important things in life. If something is worth doing, it worth doing diligently and with excellence. This is especially true in serving the the Lord.
May the Lord help us to strive for diligence in all we do. Life is too short to be short-circuited by the good when we can do the better, and not letting the better keep us from the best. God has the best for those who give Him their best.
Have a blessed and diligent day for the Lord and for others. Stay safe and healthy.
Striving for diligence daily,
Dean
Dean Allen's Daily Devotional 