The Surprising Motive of the Hard-Working Person

I passed by the field of a sluggard, by the vineyard of a man lacking sense, and behold, it was all overgrown with thorns; the ground was covered with nettles, and its stone wall was broken down.Proverbs 24:30–31Picture a wise man walking in the countryside. First, he goes past a field of ripening corn. Then he goes past a vineyard with clusters of grapes on the vine. Then he goes past a little vegetable garden. It’s going to be a good harvest, he thinks, and when it comes, these people will be blessed.But then he comes to a property that looks very different. This field is overgrown with thorns, and the stone wall is broken down.The tragedy of the neglected field is not just that the sluggard has failed to provide for himself but that he is not able to contribute to the needs of others.“The desire of the sluggard kills him, for his hands refuse to labour. All day long he craves and craves, but the righteous gives and does not hold back” (21:25–26).God gave the sluggard a field that would produce all that he needed for himself and more that he could have given to others. But he did not use what God had entrusted to him, so the field became overgrown, and the wall was broken down.Love is the great biblical motive for work. “Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labour, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need” (Eph. 4:28).Love is the great motive for all of our work, and it begins with our love for God.How might your attitude toward work change if you were motivated by love for God and for others?