Letter: Hard work is a blessing

Proverbs 14:4 says, “Where no oxen are, the crib is clean: but much increase is by the strength of the ox.”

I love to read the Proverbs. They offer very simple, practical advice. The main idea behind this verse is this:

“Do you want less problems or less product?”

It is more convenient not to have to clean, feed, and take care of the ox, but you are also limiting what you get because you limit your potential. We could apply this to so many areas of life:

– Yes, it would be nice to sleep in instead of getting up, working hard, and dealing with difficult people, but you also wouldn’t have much of a paycheck!
– At times it seems easier to quit on a marriage and not have to deal with the difficulties and arguments, but the joy and benefits of a marriage where two people are working together to build a life far outweigh the bumps that come along the way.
– Children are a blessing, but they also require feeding, changing, losing sleep, neverending pairs of new jeans (have you ever had a 6 year old!), training, running around for all their programs, and having to endure 5,000 questions a day. If I didn’t have children though, I would never know the joy of holding a sleeping infant in my arms early in the morning. I would never know the wonder that I’ve seen in the eyes of my little girls as they put on a princess dress and twirl around the living room. I would never have experienced what it’s like to watch my boys both be baptized after asking Jesus to save them.

The blessings of hard work and family far outweigh the upkeep!

Pastor James Young
Living Hope Baptist Church of Jasper