Prepare your work outside; get everything ready for yourself… – Proverbs 24:27
Are you a list maker? Do Post-it notes govern your life? Perhaps you have seen the insurance company commercial that features a monster covered in those sticky notes. Where to start? The key, of course, is to prioritize. California Coast University states, “As a principle, it means doing ‘first things first;’ as a process, it means evaluating a group of items and ranking them in their order of importance or urgency. … The trick is to identify which task is important to accomplish and which task is urgent.” In his book Tyranny of the Urgent, Charles Hummel wrote, “Your greatest danger is letting the urgent things crowd out the important.”
During King Solomon’s time, Israel was an agrarian society. Their work was outdoors, either tending flocks of sheep or growing produce. Both activities required their constant attention. For the farmers, planting and harvesting were the bookends of a lot of work in the middle to grow a crop that would support their families. Likewise, the shepherds could not be complacent about moving their flocks to new grazing areas, keeping them well watered, and being on hand at lambing time. There was a specified orderliness to what had to be done to achieve success.
With your lists, do you dive in and get things done? Or do you procrastinate? When you choose the action, you choose the consequences. Be organized and plan your work. Make intentional decisions about your actions and avoid frittering away hours on trivial things. Focus on what is important to tend to. Keep in mind Paul’s admonition from Colossians 3:23, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.” And, in Galatians 6:9, “Let us not grow wearing of doing good, for in due season, we will reap, if we do not give up.” Keep your priorities straight. Keep the Lord first in your life. Be prepared for what life deals out by investing time in reading and studying God’s Word, and praying and giving Him thanks. When you prepare and do first things first, your steps will not falter (Psalm 37:31). Pray for a proper work ethic among members of Congress, particularly those who claim to follow Jesus.
Today’s Verse: Proverbs 24:27
Prepare your work outside;
get everything ready for yourself in the field,
and after that build your house.
All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Recommended for further reading: Hebrews 12:1-2, 12-17
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
12 Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. 14 Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; 16 that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. 17 For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.
All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
