Don’t Be A Sluggard (2)

‘How long will you slumber, O sluggard?’ Proverbs 6:9 NKJV

The sluggard never does today what he can put off until tomorrow, and he never does tomorrow what he can put off forever. His favourite work day is—tomorrow. That’s why God asks, ‘How long will you slumber, O sluggard?’

When someone is capable of working and jobs are available, you may be talking to a sluggard if you’re continually asking, ‘How long are you going to take off between jobs?’ Or, ‘When are you going to look for another job?’

The story’s told of a college student who was trying to decide whether or not he should study. He grabbed a coin, flipped it, and in mid-air said, ‘Heads, I’m going to the movies. Tails, I’m going to watch TV. And if it stands on its edge—I’m going to study!’ Incidentally, some sluggards are even too lazy to flip the coin!

The sluggard is a person who’s always going to ‘get around to doing the job’, but never ‘gets around’ to ‘getting around’.

Parent, teach your children that when a job is to be started is as important as when it is to be completed. A child’s favourite response to a command is often, ‘In just a minute.’ Don’t start buying it, or you’ll be paying forever. Teach your kids that ‘now’ means now, and ‘finish’ means don’t turn the TV—or computer—back on until the job’s done. This is an important truth because as one leader said, ‘When you do what you have to do, when you have to do it, then you get to do what you want to do, when you want to do it.

不要做懒汉

懒惰人哪，你要睡到几时呢？箴言6:9

对懒汉来讲，能够推到明天的事情，绝对不会今天做；等到了明天，又会往后无限期的推延。懒汉最喜欢的工作日就是明天。这就是为什么上帝要说：懒惰人哪，你要睡到几时呢？

当你看到有些人是有工作的能力，并且也有能找到工作的时候，如果你还需要问他，“你打算在两份工作之间休息多久？” 或者 “你决定什么时候去找下一份工作”，那么你可能是在和一个懒汉说话。

有一个故事讲到，说有一个大学生想决定要不要学习，就拿起一个硬币，往天上抛了起来，他心想：“如果是正面，我就去看电影；如果是反面，我就去看电视；如果站起来，我就去学习”。更有甚者，有些懒汉甚至懒到不愿抛硬币。

懒汉就是这样的人，他们总是计划说，“抽出时间去做工作”，但是却从来没有“抽出时间”去“抽出时间”。

作为父母，应该教导孩子“什么时候开始做一件事情”和“什么时候完成一件事情”是同等重要的。孩子对于命令最喜欢的回复就是“等一会儿”。如果是这样，那么你就不要为他们买了，否则你就需要永远这样面对孩子。告诉你的孩子，“现在”的意思就是现在，而“完成”的意思是在工作完成之前不要打开电视或者电脑。这是一个非常重要的真理，就像一个智者说过“当你不得不做某件事情的时候，你选择去做这件不得不做的事情，那么你就可以在遇到你想要去做某件事情的时候，可以去做某件事情”。

（翻译：段麦克 @ 2018-04-25）