Fathers need to teach sons the value of work. The Jewish proverb has a grain of truth in it: "He who doesn't teach his son a trade teaches him to steal" (cf. Proverbs 22:6). One reason that employers have trouble getting production from young workers is that some dads never taught their sons to work. It was easier just to do it themselves or hire someone rather than teach them how to do it or motivate them to leave the TV or Nintendo long enough to mow the grass, wash the car, hoe the garden, change the oil, rake the leaves, help the widow, organize their room or clean the basement. This is a failure of parental responsibility.

From the Prodigal (This word means "wasteful.") Son (Luke 15:11-32) we gain three key economic thoughts: (1) "wasted his substance" (2) "when he had spent all" and (3) "began to be in want." It works that way. Waste and want belong together and cannot be separated long. If money runs through our pockets like water through a sieve, then we should not be surprised to find our wallets usually empty. This boy learned in the School of Hard Knocks, but the tuition was awfully high. By the time he got back home, ragged and tattered with his stomach pulled in against his backbone, he was not wanting to give any lectures on finance nor on what he perhaps had once thought was the old man's penny-pinching ways. (Brownlow, Leroy. Living on the Plus Side of Life.) This applies in practical terms to saving food leftover from one meal to use at another (cf. John 6:12), saving articles for reuse instead of discarding them, using coupons or sales when possible and putting aside a portion of the salary each week for savings instead of "blowing" the surplus. Solomon said, "There is treasure to be desired and oil in the dwelling of the wise; but a foolish man spendeth it up" (Proverbs 21:20). It also implies taking care of property by cautious use, regular cleaning and immediate repair. For instance, becoming a homeowner brings with it the responsibility to keep it up. Scripture warns, "By much slothfulness the building decayeth; and through idleness of the hands the house droppeth through" (Ecclesiastes 10:18). Each of these adds to one's overall financial standing and enables one to give more to the Lord. A lazy man will never be a good giver (cf. Ephesians 4:28; 2 Corinthians 9:6-7).

Jesus, the Lord of the Harvest, always has positions available for workers. No one has an excuse to stand "idle in the marketplace" (Matthew 20:3), for there is "work to do, work on every hand." As long as there is a lost soul on earth (Luke 19:10; Mark 16:15-16), as long as there is one needy person (James 1:27), as long as there is breath in our lungs to praise the Father (Isaiah 38:18; 1 Peter 2:5, 9), our work is not done.

To cut away the nice verbiage and get to the truth, some Christians are going to be lost on Judgment Day because they are lazy. Some are standing on the promises, others only sitting on the premises. No Christian should be satisfied to just be a name on a roll. Each should be a hand in the work. Fill a place--not just a space.

The Book says, "Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord" (Romans 12:11; Hebrews 6:12). Martin Luther said, "If I rest, I rust." Leonardo da Vinci observed, "Iron rust from disuse, stagnant water loses its purity and in cold weather becomes frozen; even so inaction saps the vigor of the mind." George Whitefield quipped, "It is better to wear out than to rust out."