Wake Up!

Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise, which having no captain, overseer, or ruler, provides her supplies in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest. How long will you slumber, O sluggard?  When will you rise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep . . . . So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler, and your need like an armed man. (Proverbs 6:6-11)

This is such timely wisdom for this day and age. While there are many who are hard at work (and at times working way too much!) many are simply spending too much time waiting for work and waiting and expecting hand-outs. We were once a proud nation of hard-working men and women here in the United States. Lately it seems we are a nation of "entitlement". Our banks have been bailed out. Our auto industry has been bailed out. Our insurance companies have been bailed out. Unemployment benefits are extended for years and years. Temporary assistance to families in need has become a way of life for way too many! Tax loopholes allow the rich to get richer at the expense of the working class. 

Please do not get me wrong: I am not condemning those in real need and in dire straits. I am criticizing our government for making it way too easy for many to live an life of the sluggard while our future generations rot away. Hard work and it's rewards have been replaced with "get rich quick schemes" and "get what is mine" attitudes. Others simply find ways to "live off the system". God cannot be pleased with this at all. 

We as Christ-followers must instill in our youth the hard work ethic by example and by biblical teaching. Work is a blessing and the labor we put forth to provide is not in vain! Now is not the time to rest upon our laurels but to do whatever we need to do to supply our families' needs. God rewards effort, not laziness!