I love this verse, partly because it uses the word “slacker”, but mainly because of the great truth and promise that it is. I must confess that after I took to using the Holman Christian Standard Bible I fell in [...]]]> Prov 13:4 - The slacker craves, yet has nothing, but the diligent is fully satisfied. (HSCB)

I love this verse, partly because it uses the word “slacker”, but mainly because of the great truth and promise that it is. I must confess that after I took to using the Holman Christian Standard Bible I fell in love with its simplistic way of declaring truth – I know when I have been a slacker, and so does God!

Some commentators see this verse solely relating to a persons discipline with regards to work – I would conjecture that here would be a strong base of the old protestant work ethic of “God helps those who help themselves”. I want to dispel this interpretation of this verse – there is much more to it that just reward for hard personal effort! However, I would love $10 for every time I have shattered a believers attitude when explaining that that particular phrase is not a bible verse – not even in Hezekiah!

There are two key words as I see it – slacker and diligent and the outcomes of this verse are either negative or positive, depending on where you are at, or more to the point, where you remain. The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines them as follows:

Slacker – a person who avoids work or effort. Originally used in the USA to describe a person who deliberately avoided military service. A modern usage is to describe a person characterised by apathy and aimlessness.

Diligent – to be careful and conscientious in one’s work or duties

The main reason why I don’t believe that this verse relates to our work life, but is talking about our “complete” life, is the usage of the word “soul” at the beginning of the verse. This has more to do with a person’s “heart desire”, than the outcome of effort and work. The intent of this word is that it describes the heart, the person, the very life of someone.  It describes the very totality of who we are – the completeness of a person – a person who has been created in the image of God. But this happens to be a slacker, a sluggard, with cravings that will never be satisfied.

The terms sluggard, slacker, can be interchanged with lazy, but the basic meaning is to describe a person who is habitually lazy, with a strong implication that the person also displays no discipline and initiative. This lazy, ill disciplined person is further described by Solomon as someone who craves things. It’s not the kind of craving that a pregnant woman may have – it is far deeper than that. What Solomon was describing was a strong yearning, even a lusting for things. Yet , with all the lusting, yearning, and desiring that the slacker can muster, he ends up with nothing.

So, to paraphrase Solomon in the first part of this verse – The lazy, slack and ill-disciplined person will try and fill their life with things that consume their waking moments, but will receive nothing that they dream and yearn for.

But it gets better – look at the promise that comes after the handing down of the judgment to the slacker – let’s recap what Solomon declared – but the diligent is fully satisfied. How awesome is that! Diligence brings reward; diligence brings authority and diligence brings riches.

I believe that as Christians, we are called to be diligent, and not lazy. To some, this comes easy, but to others it requires a lot effort, work and discipline. Some people are born with self-discipline, others need it developed in their lives. But that’s why we have a God in Heaven, isn’t it?  If we submit to Him, He will transform us.

For those of you like me who were created without a lot of discipline – i.e. with a sanguine personality, or if you are more of a phlegmatic type, we can take counsel from one of God’s smallest creations – the ant. Solomon makes a really valid point in Prov 6:6 – Go to the ant, you slacker! Observe its ways and become wise.

When i was a kid growing up in Sydney, we used to experience awesome and powerful summer thunderstorms – usually late in the afternoon. I reckon that I would have been around 10 or 11 before I realised that I could predict an upcoming thunderstorm just by watching the ants near the gate that was at the front of our driveway. From about an hour to an hour and-a-half before the thunderstorm would arrive, we would see all these ants scurrying around on the driveway trying to get things into their nest – if it was St Georges Terrace, it would have been a stampede. The ants were frenetic but they seemed to know what was coming, and what they had to do to protect themselves.

I guess that this was what Solomon was trying to portray when he commanded the slacker to go to the ant and observe its ways.

I’ll leave you with one scripture, Prov 10:4 Idle hands make one poor, but diligent hands bring riches.

Lord, make me diligent in spite of myself!!!!

It’s tribal, but [...]]]> My sport of choice to watch, now that I’m too old to play, is rugby union – the game they play in heaven! The mighty Western Force is my team in the Super 14, a provincial competition pitting sides across the three great rugby nations of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

It’s tribal, but also nationalistic – in other words competitive to the hilt for players and fans alike.Last night saw the kick-off of the 2010 season, and unfortunately the Awesome Force lost, but it’s still going to a good year.

But what was really good was that last year at a charity auction, I got to bid for a signed shirt by the captain, Nathan Sharpe. Sharpie is an awesome player and a great guy, so I was thrilled to find out that I won it. Add a few photos, stick it in a frame, and here it is – a nice piece of sporting memorabilia.

Who knows, Sharpie may be the captain of the champion Super 14 team for 2010.

So now I’m [...]]]> My oldest, Elissa, finished Year 12 six weeks ago. Since that time, many changes have taken place – she has lost all your wisdom teeth, we have gone 50/50 in a a car for her and she is going out and about with friends who have already got their P plates.

So now I’m being forced to learn new things – firstly, to stay up until she arrives home. It wasn’t that long ago that I picked her up from events, no I just to wait up till she arrives home, and that brings with it interesting emotions as I wait for her arrival.

But the new parenting skill that I enjoy most developing is the skill at being a patient teacher of driving skills. Having learnt to drive over 25 years ago, and then teaching my wife to drive a manual car leading up to our marriage, I haven’t consciously thought about the skills of driving, let alone the method of teaching them, for a very long time. But it’s fun – to see someone struggle, then progress with what has become second nature to me, has been a great time. I love the way she picks things up; gets frustrated; moves on; and conquers a new skill all in a short time at the wheel.

More importantly however, is that it’s a fun and new way of spending time with one of my kids.

So, at the end of each time together in the car, I still don’t know who’s learning the most.

Unfortunately [...]]]> I’m a Mac user, and proud of it. When I made the switch from Windows in 2004 the biggest challenge that confronted me was what bible study software would I use. For all of my Windows life (from 3.0 to XP) I had used various versions of QuickVerse and it’s associated atlases and dictionaries.

Unfortunately for me, QuickVerse only came in a Windows version, and PC emulation at the time was terribly slow, so it was not an option for me to consider. I therefore had to find a new bible study software – there were a number of free/cheap options, but the standout was Accordance.

Now using Accordance was more a paradigm shift compared to switching to Mac and something that took some time to come to grips with. It was frustrating as it limited my ability to study and prepare messages, but over time I have come to appreciate it more and more – it’s power in compiling searches from a huge array of resources is awesome. To me, Accordance, makes the complex simple – a bit like a great teacher of the Word.

Five years on, after attending a training seminar in Sydney, I love Accordance. Yet now, Logos has recently released Logos4, clearly their best offering yet.

The Mac version is currently in Alpha mode and it’s fun to be a part of software development, whereas the Windows version is a complete release. With the advent of exceptional Windows virtualisation programs such as Parallels and VM Fusion, running a Windows bible study application is no longer a chore for Mac users.

The Windows version of Logos4 certainly has a Mac feel to it, but not quite. Yet is a great tool and has a great interface for students of the Word – powerful searching and great layout of resources for viewing. A neat bonus from Logos is that they have released an iPhone App that will sync your library with the phone – unfortunately, no information is presently able to be stored on the iPhone – it must by streamed over Wi-fi or 3G phone networks.

It’s a great position for the modern Christian to find themselves in – two great bible study apps for either of your operating system of choice.

For me, I will use both as they do different things in some ways better than their competitor. But if I had to choose one, it would be Accordance, as there motto says, the bible is central.

So if you’re in the market for new software, please consider Accordance and I Know you won’t regret it. Go ahead, make the switch!

PS – if you don’t want to leave Windows, Accordance provides an emulator so you run run Accordance on your Windows based machine.