This is Spoken Gospel.

We are dedicated to seeing
Jesus in all of scripture.

In each episode, we see what’s happening in a Biblical
text and how it sheds light on Jesus and His Gospel.

Let’s jump in.

Work is a part of God’s wise
design for the universe.

In the garden of Eden, God
gave Adam and Eve jobs.

In their work to keep the garden and subdue
the earth, they were perfectly fulfilled.

It wasn’t until our first parents rejected God’s
wisdom that work became a source of

toil and discomfort, with displeasure
and laziness entering the picture.

Laziness is foolishness incarnated. It is the ultimate
rejection of God’s wisdom for the world

because we are designed to work for God’s glory.

Some of the most sarcastic and biting remarks in the book of Proverbs
are reserved for those who are able to work but unwilling to do so.

“As a door turns on its hinges,
so a sluggard turns on his bed”.

“The sluggard buries his hand in the dish;
he is too lazy to bring it back to his mouth”.

“As vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the
eyes, so are sluggards to those who send them”.

Lazy people are not only comical in their commitment to doing
nothing, they’re an irritant to those forced to be near them.

Some are so committed to laziness they
invent ridiculous reasons to avoid working.

“The sluggard says, ‘There is a lion outside!
I shall be killed in the public square!’”.

The wisdom of the book of Proverbs is that hard work
is not only the way the world works, but that it pays off.

Proverbs 14:4 says, “Where there are no oxen, the manger is
empty, but from the strength of an ox come abundant harvests.”

Owning oxen comes with a lot
of dirty work in the stable.

But without that effort
you’ll never see a harvest.

Only those with “diligent hands will rule...."

The apostle Paul says simply, “The one
who is unwilling to work shall not eat”.

God made us to work.

When God placed Adam and Eve in the
garden, only some of the earth was cultivated.

They were told to exercise dominion,
fill the earth, and subdue it.

Adam and Eve’s work in agriculture, city-building,
irrigation, and culture would be the way God’s

image, his name, and his glory
spread throughout the earth.

In Eden, all work was sacred. Milking the cows
mattered. And in Jesus, that happens again.

Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, he
makes us a “kingdom of priests” once again.

We are part of a kingdom of sacred
workers whose every effort matters;

where every keystroke and line
of code advances God’s glory.

The promise of laziness is that if we
don’t try, we won’t be disappointed.

But because Jesus rose from the dead, we can know that
none of our efforts will be frustrated
because all efforts are eternal.

May the Holy Spirit open your eyes to see
the God who made you to work hard.

And may you see Jesus, who by his resurrection frees
you from the temptation and the promise of laziness.