Romans 12.11 commands us to never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically.
Most men over 40 are pretty committed to working hard. We were raised that way. We remember buying our own school clothes, buying our first car and paying for college. Our parents didn’t have a lot and even if they did they required us to work for what we wanted as well.
Overall I would say we are the better for it.
We however have raised the millennials. The knock on them is their poor work ethic. They watched us overwork then hand them whatever they wanted so they expect to be given everything they want they just don’t want to pay the price to earn it. While this isn’t entirely true of both generations it is mostly true; exceptions exist on both sides.
However nearly all of us can be accused of a poor work ethic when it comes to the work of building God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. While measuring our earthly work is easy by assessing our income, measuring kingdom work is also easy though seldom considered.
God measures our work by the lives we impacted for His Name’s sake. In one of the greatest judgment scenes recorded in the Bible, God brings to mind all those people who were clothed, fed and visited by us for Him. Those who went to hell had no people to count that were ministered to while those who went to heaven did have people that could be identified as having been clothed, fed and visited.
The Bible is full of numbers of people counted and measured as being on God’s side or not. Ultimately the Bible identifies all as having sinned but that God wants all people reconciled. This ministry of reconciliation has been assigned to God’s people who are to go and make disciples by teaching obedience to all of Jesus’ commands to all people.
God can and will measure the people we have intentionally invested into for the purposes of reconciling them to Jesus as Savior. So who have we seen come to Christ this year as a result of our prayers and testimony? Who are the people we have intentionally taught Jesus’ commands to this year? What about last year? The past five years?
The poverty of this country spiritually is the direct result of our failure to work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically as we are commanded. Let’s change that.
Let’s begin to see people as deeply loved but estranged children from their heavenly Father to whom our Father has invited us, those who have already been adopted back into the family, to help Him restore into a full and loving relationship those separated from Him.
This is the purpose for which He has adopted us and to which He has commanded us to go and fulfill.
