Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones. Learn from their ways and become wise! Though they have no prince or governor or ruler to make them work, they labor hard all summer, gathering food for the winter. But you, lazybones, how long will you sleep? When will you wake up? A little extra sleep, a little more slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest – then poverty will pounce on you like a bandit; scarcity will attack you like an armed robber.
It seems to be a common theme in Proverbs that “loving sleep” is bad. I remember the saying, “Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” I don’t understand why that is true, but in my own life, I do much better spiritually, emotionally and physically when I wake up early. For me, 5AM is a target. Get up at 5 or 5:30 instead of 6 or 6:30 makes a big difference for me. I don’t like it. I really love sleep. But when I am disciplined to wake up early, everything else in my life seems to go better.
The joy or blessing of working hard is also mentioned often in Proverbs. There is something about hard work that is good for me. It is good to look back on a job well done. There is a movie that came out recently called “The Ultimate Gift” where someone leaves their grandson a series of “gifts” he needs to experience before he receives his inheritance. The “gift” of hard work is one of them. I appreciate hard work as a gift.
One of the messages at the Willow Creek leadership conference this year spoke about excellence in work; and how a hundred years ago, Christ-followers were well-known for hard work, and excellence in their hard work. You can count on Christ-followers to do a great job with whatever they did, and have excellence in their work. We are admonished to work as if we are working for God, not man. When I am able to do that, I feel like I am a much better example to those around me.
The danger for me, is to work too long, or too hard, and neglect the priorities that are more important than my work, like my relationship with God, my wife, my kids and the other relationships in my life.
