Thought for the Day

Even more sinful than laziness is the sluggard's prideful attitude of being wise in his own eyes. My husband and I pastored for many years, and during that time, many beggars would come to our church asking for money for food or gas. Since we had trusting, compassionate hearts, it was difficult for us to believe that people would lie to us about their conditions. However, we learned early not to give these people money, since some of them would later be seen down the road with a bottle of liquor which they had purchased with the money we'd given them. After that, we made it a practice to send them to a restaurant or service station and have the owners serve them and bill us. By doing that, we truly helped the needy and avoided giving them money that would support a harmful habit.

Although most of those people lied to us, what shocked me most about many of them was their pride. On more than one occasion, when we would try to share some wisdom to help them out of their poverty, they would become quite indignant. I came to realize that most did not want real help, but just a hand-out in order to continue a lifestyle that they were accustomed to; which included answering to no one and doing as they pleased. When we offered them a job or opportunity to help out in our church, they refused and went on their way thinking they were smart enough to avoid work and still get by.

Of course, people who were simply in bad circumstances also came to us. These were grateful for our help and willing to listen to advice. They were unlike the irresponsible sluggards who took advantage of others and never made an attempt to change. Though cautious, we always prayed for the sluggards and reached out to them in love, since God cares for them and desires to help them overcome their bad habits. Our prayer was that our witness to them would plant a seed in their hearts, so that they might come to the Lord when they became weary of wasting their lives.

Through these experiences, I realized that people can be prideful when they have absolutely nothing to be proud about. Appearances can be deceiving. Pride and humility are attitudes of the heart. A poor person can be arrogant, just as a wealthy person can be humble. "...the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7).