Wake up, O sleeper,
rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.
-Ephesians 5:14

It often seems like it is human nature to look for the easier softer way. Spending the least amount of money for the best bargain. Put in the least amount of work for the most money. American culture thrives on these concepts. But this idea breeds laziness and complacency and once again we are stuck with too much of a good thing, becoming a culture of low work ethic and a misconstrued sense of entitlement.

In the church we work hard to combat the world’s ideas if they are in direct violation or at the very least misinterpretation of the teachings through Jesus Christ. But we end up fighting laziness with workaholism and thriftiness to the point of miserliness; Pastors finding themselves at burnout at the expense of their emotional and spiritual health. I know first hand the struggle of separating my priority of God first, spouse second, family third and work fourth, confusing work with God more times than I like to admit since I began ministry work as a volunteer.

See, I think we get so caught up with wanting to do good and working hard, that we forget WHY we work hard. Haggai 1:2-9 tells of eating but never having enough, of drinking and never being full, earning wages but putting them in a purse with holes in it. Why? We were too busy with our own house to work in His. We may be busy, but it may be fruitless because it is the wrong kind of busy. We do this even in a church environment. The work we put in may be to satisfy our own ego or making our self-worth be tied to our work. Or because we have a hard time saying NO.This kind of thinking leads us further instead of closer to God.

Doing the right thing is hard. It usually takes more work. More determination. More willpower and more self-control. Don’t spend time worrying. Instead, use that time to develop your personal relationship with God, meditate day and night for continual life-long growth. God will teach you how to create new boundaries and what work should remain priority.

But his delight and desire are in the law of the Lord, and on His law (the precepts, the instructions, the teachings of God) he habitually meditates (ponders and studies) by day and by night. Psalm 1:2 AMP