Proverbs 24:30-34.
“I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding; And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down. Then I saw, and considered it well: I looked upon it, and received instruction. Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth; and thy want as an armed man.” (KJV).
The Fields Preached a Sermon:
In today’s Proverb, Solomon describes a story from his personal life. He tells about a time he was walking by the field of a simple, lazy man, and – no surprise – it was overgrown with weeds, the fence was knocked down, and there was no fruit. The lesson he learned? If you are lazy, and spend all your time napping, you will become poor really quickly, and you won’t be able to do anything about it. What a great lesson for today’s generation!
Today’s Lazy Young People:
I don’t know about you, but I have noticed that a lot of young people today lack any sort of work ethic. They don’t want to do anything, and they want everyone to do everything for them. There is a song by Bruno Mars that I think so perfectly captures the spirit of today’s generation: “Today I don’t feel like doing anything, I just want to lay in my bed.” It is aptly named simply “The Lazy Song.”
I know that I am greatly (and perhaps unfairly so) generalizing here, as I know that there are many young people who are diligent and hard-working. However, such persons are so rare that when they are seen, they are taken as a notable exception to their peers, and are looked upon as extraordinary.
The Book of Proverbs has a lot of warnings to the lazy man (or woman):
- 12:24: The hand of the diligent will rule, But the lazy man will be put to forced labor.
- 12:27: The lazy man does not roast what he took in hunting, But diligence is man’s precious possession.
- 13:4: The soul of a lazy man desires, and has nothing; But the soul of the diligent shall be made rich.
Application: How Then Shall We Live?
First of all, if you’re 30 years old and still live in your mom’s basement playing video games all day long – go out and get a job! (That challenge is only partly tongue-in-cheek). God’s Word challenges us to be diligent and hard-working people, and warns against a lazy lifestyle. The Bible says, “Work hard and cheerfully at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.” (Colossians 3:23, NLT).
If you work hard and are diligent, God will bless you. So don’t be lazy!
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Proverbial Thought 
January 4th, 2017 at 2:52 pm
Reblogged this on Talmidimblogging.
January 9th, 2017 at 11:10 am
I will now stop procrastinating on WordPress. Thanks for the reminder.
July 14th, 2017 at 4:29 am
There are Also many young people today with depression or other metal illness. You seem to be lacking compassion my friend. Do you know what today’s young adults dealt with? No because it’s so varied. Broken families are the norm. And abuse in childhood can definitely alter a person’s motivation..are you out mentoring these “lazy kids” or just talking about them?
July 14th, 2017 at 12:18 pm
First of all, let me say thank you for your reply – I appreciate it. However, it was unfair of you to assume that I lack compassion because of what I wrote, not knowing anything about my background or motivations.
I am well aware of what today’s youth and young adults deal with! I have been directly involved in mentoring, helping and supporting young people for the past 25 years as a youth pastor, guidance counsellor, teacher and friend. I have encountered many young people struggling with depression and mental illness. And as a matter of fact, I myself come from a broken home. My father was an alcoholic who abandoned our family and left my mom to raise me and my three sisters alone. I have gone through and overcome a painful and debilitating depression. I know first hand what it’s like to not want to get out of bed in the morning. And to clarify, that’s not what this article was addressing.
There are two different issues here. One is a mental illness or depression where one literally has no motivation to get out of bed and do anything. The other is old fashioned laziness, where due to no other reason, the person simply doesn’t want to get up and do work because, well, it’s work. That is the person I (or rather the Proverbs for the day) was addressing.
So to the person struggling with depression – I UNDERSTAND. But to the person who is simply being LAZY I say get up off of your butts and DO SOMETHING!