Most of the preaching I...
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Most of the preaching I have heard on this passage in the past couple decades has focused, not on the value of working, but on the evils of workaholism. Considering the work habits of most people I encounter, I think we can claim success in getting people to understand that there is no salvation is hard work.
The pendulum has swung in the other direction. This passage may again speak to a significant social ill: laziness. Many congregations with whom I consult are seeking ways to get their membership to volunteer their jobs and their pastor to put in a full week's work.
While it can be taken to such an extreme that it becomes demonic, hard work is to be valued. To paraphrase the cynical aphorism of Damon Runyon, "It may be that the race is not always to the swift, success not always to the one who works the hardest, not the battle to the strongest -- but that's the way to bet."
Newspaper columnist, Bob Talbert puts the same truth in a different format. "If you observe people long enough, you'll realize that the self-made ones have an abundance of working parts."
(Quotes from The Vital Church Leader, R. Robert Cueni, Abingdon, 1990.)
The pendulum has swung in the other direction. This passage may again speak to a significant social ill: laziness. Many congregations with whom I consult are seeking ways to get their membership to volunteer their jobs and their pastor to put in a full week's work.
While it can be taken to such an extreme that it becomes demonic, hard work is to be valued. To paraphrase the cynical aphorism of Damon Runyon, "It may be that the race is not always to the swift, success not always to the one who works the hardest, not the battle to the strongest -- but that's the way to bet."
Newspaper columnist, Bob Talbert puts the same truth in a different format. "If you observe people long enough, you'll realize that the self-made ones have an abundance of working parts."
(Quotes from The Vital Church Leader, R. Robert Cueni, Abingdon, 1990.)
