Get Busy!

Daily Reading: Matthew 20

Scripture Focus: Why do you stand here idle all day? (Matthew 20.6b)

Devotional Thought: Last week I read how the economy showed signs of strengthening because 222,000 jobs were added and the unemployment rate was steady at 4.4%. Fewer people are out of work, and that's good, but for the 4.4%, life could be better. Many are probably wondering when the strengthening economy will reach them. They are idle. Idleness is a bane on society and on individuals. How does that proverb go? "Idle hands are the devil's workshop."

Why do you stand here idle all day? Some possible answers...

• Some - like the workers in this parable - will say, "No one has hired us." The master of the house quickly put an end to that excuse. He hired them! In the kingdom, there is more to do than we have workers to do it. There is no excuse for idleness. Jesus stands ready to give each one a job with eternal significance and rewards.

• Others may say, "I don't know what to do." That's legitimate. I have found myself waiting for instructions because it was unclear exactly what my next step should be. But, I have found that - in kingdom work as well as most other endeavors - the best way to find out what to do is to start doing something. Clarity comes with activity, not apathy.

• Still others say, "I don't want to do it." They reason it's somebody else's job, they've done their part, or they don't have the necessary skills. I've recently read how the roll of able-bodied people receiving food stamps went down drastically in those states and counties that began again to enforce the federal government's work requirement. What are the able-bodied of the kingdom doing? Are we waiting on God to force our hands?

Why do you stand here idle all day? Get Busy!

Prayer: Father forgive your church for being idle. The harvest indeed is plentiful but the workers are few. Help me to be among those few who are busy at your work, and send forth more workers into your fields. Amen.

Psalm of the Day: 1 O LORD, God of my salvation; I cry out day and night before you. 2 Let my prayer come before you; incline your ear to my cry! 3 For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to Sheol. 4 I am counted among those who go down to the pit; I am a man who has no strength, 5 like one set loose among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, like those whom you remember no more, for they are cut off from your hand. (Psalms 88:1-5)