THINK TOGETHER.
What do you work hard at?
READ TOGETHER
Proverbs 13:4. The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied.
Do you remember what a sluggard is? A sluggard is someone who refuses to work hard at anything. The sluggard always does the bare minimum, just enough to get by. But Solomon is warning that the sluggard is a person who is never really satisfied. The sluggard wants good things but they can never work hard enough to get them.
For example, if you want good grades in school, you have to be diligent, don't you? Or, if you want to be good at baseball, you have to work hard at it and practice. People who are really good at something didn't just dream about it, they worked very hard at it. Solomon says that when you work hard at something and accomplish your dream through diligence, your soul is richly supplied.
It's important to remember that proverbs aren't promises. That means that's sometimes you can be diligent and work very hard and still not get what you dreamed of. But hard work can also be its own reward. Your soul can still be satisfied with knowing that you did your best.
And your soul can be satisfied in knowing that one day, when Jesus returns we will have everything our soul ever craved. Even today, when your soul craves Jesus and his love and acceptance, you will never be empty, only full. Full of the love of Christ in your soul.
Because of Jesus our soul will always be richly supplied.
With Jesus we can work hard knowing that in the end we will be forever satisfied with Jesus.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
Have everyone name a life pursuit where they are expected to work hard and be diligent (school, the team, music lessons, job, etc.). Ask each other what they "crave" or desire to get out of this pursuit? How can knowing we have Jesus help keep things in good balance, or proper order?
PRAY TOGETHER
Jesus, help me to be a hard worker and not a sluggard. I want to crave you more than anything else. Amen.
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