by: Dr. Bruce Goddard
If there is one change among many that stands out in America, it is the lack of desire to work, to perform, to achieve. Other than in sports, evil leaders have sedated society so they are content with less work, less achievement, and are happy to take a handout rather than work to earn the spoils of labor and enterprise.
I was told New Mexico Christian schools have almost entirely changed over to a totally non-contact flag football. Schools nationwide are pushing games in which there are no winners and no losers. (By the way, in that game, all are losers.) Ask our employers how often they find a worker that wants to work, to produce and perform. When I was working at UPS, our evening four-hour shift moved more packages than the eight-hour day shift. Most of us were Bible college students who possessed drive and passion. Union-protected laziness had not yet seeped into our souls.
Children are lazy in school, and worse, are allowed to be so. Military folks can get a timeout, do less, and are being “protected” from mean leaders who would push them to their limits and excellence. Workers on jobs are allowed to be habitually late, casual on the job, and put in their time for a paycheck rather than be pushed to produce. Unions and labor laws protect the slothful and encourage the apathetic spirit in employes. Cigarette breaks are a legal right; a man has protected maternity leave to care for his wife around delivery time. (Do you panic at this? Why should your employer pay you to sit home doing nothing for the good of the company? Save up your vacation days and earn the time off. You did have nine months warning that this was going to happen.)
Folks who never tried in school or pushed to learn a skill, and then end up working at a fast-food restaurant are now getting national rights to exceptional wages (and it took only two days of training to learn the whole job). Doctors and engineers who take decades to learn and excel at their job are being told they deserve no more pay than the languid, uneducated people who have no more energy or passion than a convict wandering from cell to cafeteria.
Great judgment awaits the careless and listless, both as an individual and as a society.
Isaiah 47:8, “Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly…”
Ezekiel 39:6, “And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.”
Evil educators and lawmakers are doing their best to punish the inventor, condemn the prudent, and demean the producer. They are making a concerted effort to drain mankind of the dreamer, the innovative, the one whose desire is to “do exploits.”
Daniel 11:32, “…the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.”
Too many young men have had the “dare” stolen from them, (and it happened in Bible college.) They will not take a risk; they fear failure; they doubt their abilities and shun attempting the hard task; consequently our mission fields are empty and our pulpits void of men. Starting a church and having to fight the battle against spiritual wickedness in high places is simply not on their “bucket list.” (God forgive us and give us men!)
We forget that God placed us on Earth to achieve as Daniel says. The closer we are to God, the more we are going to search, think and plan. As we draw near to God, we will find inspiration to create and develop. See how God blessed Abraham and Isaac. They dug wells to prosper their flocks; why didn’t others do this? No passion, no dream of excellence or desire to better their lot in life. Joseph did not find greatness dumped into his lap; he thought, planned and drew near to God. Heavenly wisdom engineered a solution to the things the nation was going to face.
God says it is a GLORY to search, dream and develop.
Proverbs 25:2, “It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter.”
Leadership demands a soul that searches out solutions while others sit idly by.
Having no value to their lives and no goals for their days, far too many people want to retire, to squat worthlessly in some ineffective hole.
Zephaniah 2:15, “This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me: how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in! every one that passeth by her shall hiss, and wag his hand.”
That city which “dwelt carelessly,” ended up a mockery; people shall hiss and wag their heads, and if someone does not revive the fervor and spark the enthusiasm in America, we will be a silly memory, laughed at and pitifully situated among the failed societies of history.
When my pastor visited our church, we spoke of plans, talked about the future, and at over 80 years of age, he was almost drooling as he said, “If I were a little younger, I would come down here, and we would build something big for God.” He had not lost his passion nor desire to achieve.
Dr. Hyles was a man who never stopped pushing, dreaming or building, and he poured that passion into us as young men.
We must ask ourselves: What are we doing to determine whether our children and those we influence will be zealous or apathetic?
Dwelling carelessly or doing exploits? Where are we going?
Dr. Bruce Goddard, Pastor
Faith Baptist Church
Wildomar, CA
http://thepreachersfriend.com