A good number of our failures occur because we are not willing to expend the amount of pure effort required to succeed. Read the following scriptures.

Proverbs 21:25: “The desire of the slothful killeth him; for his hands refuse to labour.”

Proverbs 14:23: “In all labour there is profit: but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury.”

Ecclesiastes 10:18: “By much slothfulness the building decayeth; and through idleness of the hands the house droppeth through.”

The bottom line in achieving almost anything—developing a talent, performing a job well, building a good character trait—is that it requires work.

Some people, it seems, are successful at athletics, music, certain jobs or making friends almost without effort. But for all of us, succeeding at anything is simply a matter of work, persistence and good old-fashioned hard work.

Work is good. We need to find pleasure in our work because we spend more time working than doing anything else in our lives—eating, sleeping, praying or studying the Bible.

After God recreated the world, making it splendid and beautiful again, He stood back and saw that His work was very good (Genesis 1:31).

God Is a Worker

“But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work” (John 5:17).

God and Christ are workers, and they want us to be like them. God rejoices in His works. “The glory of the Lord shall endure for ever: the Lord shall rejoice in his works” (Psalm 104:31).

Today we are involved in the greatest work in the history of man.

God wants us to work now; as we do, we build and develop character. Work—effort—perseverance—toil—striking another blow when our minds and bodies tell us not to—this develops character.

Remember Ecclesiastes 9:10: “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might ….” Ecclesiastes 5:19 states that man will “rejoice in his labour; this is the gift of God.”

Our future involves “work.” Under Christ’s leadership in the World Tomorrow, we will help rebuild the world, bring many more children into God’s Family, and then go on to other work in the universe.

How hard are we working at backing God’s Work? How dedicated are we? It all gets back to attitude—having the vision of what our labors will produce in the end.

Proverbs 20:13 states, “Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty; open thine eyes, and thou shalt be satisfied with bread.”

Hard work equals success.

Job pointed out that in the end, those who have been willing to work, and who are willing to work for eternity, will be rewarded. Speaking to God, Job said, “Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands” (Job 14:15).

This last-hour work is a great privilege to be involved in. God invited us to work for Him—to get out His message.

Christ said, “[B]ehold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be” (Revelation 22:12).

Let’s be at work.

Think on these things.