Listen to Audio Devotion

Working hard and being productive and making good use of your time is a Christian virtue, but those who look the other way and choose to be lazy and unproductive and procrastinate are doing the very thing that God hates.

Good morning. Welcome to a new day. I hope you’re doing well. I hope and pray that as you listen to this devotion, God will bless you and minister to you through his word.

Titus 3:14 NIV

Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good in order to provide for urgent needs and not live unproductive lives.

There are people who say, you know, I’ll just do something when the time is right. I’ll just do something when I have a perfect time. John Henry Newman said like this, “a man would do nothing. if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault.” In other words, if a person waits for the perfect time a season to do something, then he’ll never be able to accomplish anything.

Paul is writing to the church at Crete and he is addressing Titus, and he encourages him as a pastor to remind the people that they have to devote themselves to doing what is good. The reason why Paul writes is that the people at Crete were known to be lazy. , they were known to be unproductive. So one of the ideas, so if someone says that this person is from Crete, people would think that, okay, he’s like a, so he’s a person who is unproductive and doesn’t make good use of his time because the culture of Crete was such.

But Paul’s recommendation to the church at Crete is that teach them to devote themselves to doing what is good in order to provide for their urgent needs. You see, a person who does not work is dependent on resources for food and things from another person. Now, he’s not going to get it from heaven. God is not gonna supply it from heaven, but rather he’s going to depend on someone.

Paul says, let them devote themselves to doing. What is good, why, so that they can take care of themselves. It’s a very ungodly thing to be dependent on others to feed you and take care of you. We have to earn our source of income with what God has given us. The strength, the wisdom, and the ability to work. These are things that God has given us and we must make good use of them. If we make good use of it, then we will be able to live a life that is productive and we’ll be able to meet our needs. So the whole idea that sometimes people say is, okay, I’m just waiting for the perfect time or the season to do something.

The truth is they’ll never be able to accomplish anything. Even the idea that I need to be in a perfect environment. I need to be around the right set of people or the right amount of savings or resources in life, and then I’ll do something. Even that is a big lie. You’ll never have the perfect set of people around you or the perfect set of resources around you, but you’ve got to do with whatever you have. I’m reminded of this verse from Ecclesiastes 11:4 it says like this, whoever watches the wind will not plant. Whoever looks at the clouds will not reap. If you’re looking for the perfect time, let me tell you something. It doesn’t exist. I hear people nowadays talk about early retirement, retiring in their forties and fifties.

My question is, what are you going to do for the next 20, or 30 years of your life? Just sit at home and relax? Like relaxing for like 30, 20 years of your life. That’s a very unproductive thing to do. That’s something that God does not like. As long as God keeps us alive, we have the duty to work and be productive with our time.

So the people at Crete were known to be lazy gluttons, and Paul encourages the church. Don’t be like that. Learn to take care of yourself. There’s a great verse in 2 Thessalonians 3:10 “For when we were with you, we gave you this rule. The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.”

Let’s pray.

Father, as we begin our day, help us to be productive. Let us not waste our time and energy and resources on things that do not please you. Let us be more careful of our time and the resources that you’ve given us and make the best use of them. Help us in Jesus’ name, amen.