Why Does Being a Good Worker Matter?

What’s the point of running your house, job, or even your daily life in a way that’s both prosperous and right?

It can be easy to see the current state of whatever we’re doing and assume since it’s all going great, we won’t have any problems in the future.

Let’s take the example of a farmer for instance.

This farmer, (We’ll call him, Jeff.) has hundreds of animals. He has dozens of cows in one pen, too many to count chickens in another, and still more goats in the barn. It would be really easy for him to wake up one Monday morning and decide not to check on one of his sick animals, thinking, “Who cares if I lose one chicken? I have 752 other ones!”

Meanwhile, that one sick chicken dies…but so do about a hundred other ones!

Now, Jeff realizes he has a problem…all of his chickens are now diseased, and their eggs can’t be sold! There goes a big chunk of his profit!

Now, all of us aren’t farmers. We have other jobs, whether it’s working with computers or working with upset customers, not all of us are tasked with the responsibility of raising chickens and cows.

BUT this scenario could be applied to any of our lives. For instance, maybe a banker notices something is off with his numbers, but he forgets about it…only to try to write a check later and discover he’s a couple hundred dollars short!

Proverbs 27:23 tells us to, “Be diligent and know the state of your flocks and attend to your herds;” but the next verse tells us why. “For riches are not forever, nor does a crown endure to all generations.”

In other words, what we have now is only temporary. We might have a huge savings account or a well-booming business, but that isn’t a guaranteed thing. Hard work will produce money and some of the other necessities that we need, but that’s not to say trouble can’t arise.

Disasters, fires, tornadoes, or even a death in the family are all events that cannot be planned, and when they happen, they can result in significant damage. What it DOES mean though, is to be prepared and to work hard, so that if something does come your way, you can be ready to address it.

The rest of Proverbs 27 lists ways a farmer should pay attention to his work, such as gathering herbs, using lambs as clothing, and using goats as both milk and food. We should do our work, not only because God calls us to, but also because by working we are providing for our family.

This is echoed by verse 27, which says, “You shall have enough goats’ milk for your food, for the food of your household, and the nourishment of your maidservants’. Whatever you do for a living should be able to provide for you, your family, and anyone who helps you.

So, let us remember to work, not only to be a godly example but also to provide for those we are responsible for.