Be Diligent

Our American culture teaches us that hard work will get us the results we want. At a young age I learned the opposite. As a young boy I built with all diligence a wooden race car with my father for the pinewood derby with hopes of getting 1st place. It raced, and I did not get 1st, 2nd, nor 3rd. My hard work did not give me the results I wanted. God’s word teaches us that hard work is used for a different purpose. Colossians 3:23-24 says, “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.” Successful hard work doesn’t mean you always get the results you want: CEO of a company, a multi-million-dollar business, 50 churches planted in 5 years. Successful and diligent hard work is that whatever your hand finds to do you do it with all your might to the glory of God. Whether you work with 3 or 3,000 people your work matters. Do you teach? Teach well. Do you clean? Clean well. Do you raise children? Raise them well. Our diligence in the work he gives us is a way for his light to shine in our lives so that more might come to Christ and more might be discipled.