The book of Proverbs has much to teach to every generation of Christians; this is as true of our day as any other. The book of Proverbs also has much to teach to seminary students in particular!
One of the beautiful lessons we gain from Proverbs is that diligence is a foundational virtue to godly living, that is, to successful living. Today I hope to examine this idea of diligence in order to encourage students and our visitors to live with intense industry in every area of life and especially in our service to God, whether it is related to seminary studies or otherwise.
Proverbs 13:4 says this:
“The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing,
But the soul of the diligent is made fat.”
We live in an era and in a country where laziness and ease are considered to be humorous and extremely desirable. It is our natural, fleshly, sinful desire to avoid work and exert the lowest amount of energy possible. We love ease. On the other hand, having to work hard is seen as a difficult and unfavorable circumstance in which to be. Exerting industrious and vigorous efforts toward any goal is regarded as nothing short of a curse.
This mindset is entirely foreign to the mind of God and to the truth of Scripture.
God made humans to work in the Garden of Eden before the Fall (Gen. 2:15 and 2:18), that is to say, work is a blessing since it was part of the ‘very good’ world that God spoke into existence (Gen. 1:28-31). Even after the Fall into sin, when work became laborious and toilsome, it was still an appointed means of God for blessing (cf. Gen. 3:17-19 where work provides food to eat). Human labor is what God has provided to cause the earth to yield its fullness, along with the other gracious gifts He gives (e.g. rain and sun, cf. Matt. 5:45). So work is a blessing.
The book of Proverbs further shapes our understanding of the world by teaching us how live in relationship with God. We learn in Proverbs that obedience to God is the path to a truly blessed and successful life, regardless of what the world would have us believe. This is especially apparent in regard to the teaching on diligence. The world would have us believe that a person who can live like a sluggard is someone successful—but the Bible dashes that deception to pieces. Notice that Proverbs 13:4 says that the ‘soul’ of the sluggard gets nothing; the soul is the essential part of a person, that is, who they are of themselves or their innermost life. The person who is a sluggard will have intense desires—“the sluggard craves”—but all of those desires will be ultimately unfulfilled.
The truth of this verse is presented by contrast, because the utter poverty of the sluggard in contrasted with the abundance of the diligent person. Not only will the diligent person have some or enough, but their ‘soul’ is made ‘fat’ because of the greatness. People who are industrious and apply themselves to the tasks at hand will prosper compared to those who, when put into the same situation, are lazy. Spiritual, inner abundance comes to the person who is diligent and dedicated—and destitution comes to those who are sluggards.
This is especially important to us as Christians because later in the same chapter, the same ideas are applied to the righteous and the wicked. Look at Proverbs 13:25, which says:
“The righteous has enough to satisfy his appetite,
But the stomach of the wicked is in need.”
The word ‘appetite’ in verse 25 is same Hebrew word as ‘soul’ in verse 4. So the verse could read, “The righteous has enough to satisfy his soul.” This connects the idea of righteousness with the previous teaching on diligence—those who are righteous are also diligent. The fruit of diligence is abundance in the soul, and the soul of the righteous is satisfied.
Let every Christian, then, labor to serve the Lord with diligence in every area of life. We are not our own, we have been bought with a price (1 Cor. 6). Christ died and rose again that we might live for Him (2 Cor. 5). We are to live no longer for the lusts of men but for the will of God (1 Peter 4). It is our calling to live for the purpose and goals of God in this world, and we should delight to labor to those ends. Diligence is a crucial Christian virtue, one that should mark all of our work in this life. Let us be careful, then, to walk according to the path that God has described for us in His word!
In your career, in your family, and in your study, labor diligently to serve the Lord—and we believe that great blessing will result, though it is not the blessing that the world would value.
Galatians 6:7-8
--Dean of Admissions
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