Topic: Be Diligent [Sunday 25, December 2016]
Memorise: The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness; but of every one that is hasty only to want. – Proverbs 21:5
Read: Proverbs 6:6-11 (KJV)
6 Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:
7 Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler,
8 Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.
9 How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?
10 Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:
11 So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.
Bible in One Year: Leviticus 24:17-26:13, Psalms 135
MESSAGE:
Diligence can be defined as conscientious hard work and perseverance, particularly with regards to your relationship with God. The Bible presents diligence in a highly favourable manner, which clearly shows that God loves hardworking people but hates the lazy ones. When He looks for people to use for assignments, He chooses hardworking people. If you see a lazy and nonchalant fellow occupying an ecclesiastical position, ask him how he got there because God has no business with lazy bones. Even when a person becomes mad, that state of insanity does not take away hard work from the fellow. When you observe mad men, you will know those who were hard-working and those who were lazy. The lazy ones will sit all day long or scavenge in one location for virtually the whole day, but the hardworking ones will go far distances, even travelling several kilometres on foot. Very hardworking mad fellows are possible candidates of God’s mercy. If you see them, pray for them and the Lord will deliver them.
Diligence results in a rich harvest and links you up with the high and mighty in the society. That is why Jesus, in Mark 5:1-20, came all the way to a graveyard in search of a mad fellow, bypassing other people in the process. It was because that mad man was a diligent fellow and Jesus knew that after his deliverance, he would use his energy and diligence to serve the Lord. Hence, Jesus delivered him and he immediately became an evangelist, combing the whole country for Jesus.
Similarly, you need to use the temperament that God gave you to serve Him, for example, if you are an extrovert, God wants you to use that extroverted nature to reach out to people, go from place to place speaking for God and leading souls to Christ. If you were extroverted before you were saved but thereafter you became introverted and hardly speak with anyone, you are getting something wrong. One reason God saved you was because of your extroverted nature which He expects you to use for the increase of His Kingdom. Paul was an extrovert and worked for Satan, but after his conversion, he worked much more for Jesus, touring different countries for the Lord. Are you adequately engaging your temperaments? Are you diligently handling the Kingdom business?
Prayer point: Father, please let my work bring maximum benefit to the Kingdom of God in Jesus’ name.
Open Heavens Daily Devotional guide was written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, one of the largest evangelical church in the world and also the President of Christ the Redeemer's Ministries.
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