Stewarding Well

Ronia is an ordinand, currently training at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford

Proverbs 19:15 (NKJV)
Laziness casts one into a deep sleep, And an idle person will suffer hunger. 

This week I'm basing the devotionals on thoughts from my journal.

In July of this year, I felt challenged to study what the Bible says about laziness. I had just finished my first year of university and I was having my 2-week rest period of doing absolutely nothing. I was not used to this feeling at all! Following these two weeks I had, in prospect, a summer of working hard and needing to be productive so, to prepare for this, I studied what the Bible says about laziness. 

Laziness is having ‘the quality of being unwilling to work or use energy.’ There are so many causes to laziness: it can be a lack of motivation, lack of goals, fear of responsibility. Whatever it may be, the results of laziness are clearly described in the Bible as ‘the lazy person suffers hunger.’ Proverbs warns us firmly against laziness on more than one occasion.

I don’t know how you may be feeling about the next few months of the year, but I want to encourage you to be willing to work hard. My mom has a saying: ‘working hard is hard, but the results are always good.’ Let us be children of God who steward well every opportunity we are given. Let us also never forget to pray for the Holy Spirit to empower us in all we do. Finally, let us wait and enjoy the fruit that we will produce from our diligence, consistency and hard work in Jesus’ name.

Prayer - Almighty God, I come to you today, praying for your Holy Spirit to strengthen me to be hardworking in all I do. Help me steward every opportunity you have given me well. I pray for this in the name of Jesus.