Ben Zornes

Living and Dying to Show the Preciousness of Christ

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Haste Isn’t A Shortcut

Haste Isn’t A Shortcut

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Millions of advertising dollars are spent every year on enticing you to embrace the vice of hastiness. What at first blush might look like a road to greater liberty, ease, and comfort, is instead a quicksand pathway which will quickly bog you down into the swamp of discontent, greed, and lust.

Porn is not a shortcut to sexual fulfillment, although that is what it disguises itself as. Sports betting is an alluring cheat code to generating fat stacks of cash, but the House always wins. Pinterest boards present a minimalist mirage of tidiness, but underpinning (pun intended) that minimalism is often an avoidance of diligence. Every other Silicon Valley start up is aimed at trying to part you from your money with the enticing promise of shortcutting hard work.

Proverbs, in particular, warns us of the sinister nature of haste. Hasty feet are described as sinful (Pr. 19:2). Hastiness in wealth building is unlikely to be paired with moral innocence (Pr. 28:20). Hasty speech is not just foolish, it makes you worse than a fool (Pr. 29:20). Starvation follows hastiness like ash follows fire (Pr. 21:5).

These warnings against a “get out over your skis” hastiness are not set in contrast to slothfulness. Rather, the virtue which stands opposite of this vice of hastiness is that of steady steps of diligence and faithfulness. According to biblical wisdom this is how you build a lasting foundation. Persistently ordering your steps to walk in the ways of God’s Covenant is how you enjoy the good life.

However, apart from Christ our feet our cinder blocks when it comes to obedience, and jet packs when it comes to gratifying our lusts. So, God freely offers to you, through Christ, a new heart which transforms your entire moral framework. By faith then, your feet can plod away at faithfulness.

Prayer of Confession

Father God,
Man, in His sin against you, has sought to harvest before sowing. Yet You have made this world in such a way that in order to reap we must sow good seed. Forgive us for the rebellion against Your created order. Give us hands and feet that are diligent, and free us from the hastiness and the sloth of our culture. Your word promises that in the new covenant the reapers will overtake the sowers, but this is only comes as we abide in Your covenant mercies. So, where we have broken Your Word, and sought out our own paths, have mercy upon us, oh Lord. You have called Your church to truth in the inward parts, so we now confess our individual sins to You. Selah. We do this in Jesus’ mighty name, and Amen.

Diligence Either Way

Diligence Either Way

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Diligence in any direction is like investing in a stock that pays dividends. Which is just another way of saying, “You reap what you sow.”

The Psalmist describes evildoers this way, “They search out iniquities.” Implying that you can be an A+ student in wickedness. And the way to get good at sinning is by practice, research, repetition, and, once more, diligence. Perpetuating some great evil begins by a life devoted to many, seemingly minuscule, evils. If you invest your time, inner thoughts, and secret deeds to wickedness and you’ll be paid out in dividends of corrupt gain.

One insightful, old-school missionary laid out what he called “The Seven Steps to Hell.” The first step is simply trifling with sin. It’s folding the hands to slumber a bit longer than is prudent, and financial ruin comes. It’s wandering down the digital harlot’s Instagram feed that leads into the gaping mouth of hell. It’s simmering with covetousness that brings you to crush your brother’s skull.

But, just as diligence in evil produces greater evil, the opposite is held out to us as the path of the righteous. The righteous go from strength to strength. The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. Peter tells us to “be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless (2 Pt. 3:14).”

This life of diligent obedience is only possible because God has graciously poured out upon You His Spirit. God dwells in you. But faithful obedience doesn’t mean that temptations will lessen. Quite the opposite. Greater opposition, trial, and temptation await. And it is this way so that you can say, in the end, “to God alone be the glory; for all my sins have been forgiven and all my righteousness is His.”

Prayer of Confession

Father…How many are diligent in seeking out their own misery? Your Word summons mankind to faith in You, to walk in the blessed ways of Your commands, and to revel in the joy which comes from obedience to Your statutes. Creation itself leaves mankind without excuse for his continual deliberate rebellion. We have worshipped and served false gods, and it ought not be so. Even we in Your church have found out ways to give lip service to You, while our hearts fondle wicked grudges, ponder carnal desires, and seethe with unjust wrath. Grant us grace to diligently flee from these and all other iniquities, and give us a heart that is fixed & steadfast in seeking after You. In Jesus name, Amen.

There’s only two ways to live. One is diligent in evil, the other is diligent in faith. One is the path of misery, the other the path of supreme joy. By confessing your sins, and looking to Christ alone for salvation, you can be assured that these joyful tidings of God’s forgiveness through Christ are indeed for you.

Standing Before Kings

Standing Before Kings

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Life has a way of not going according to plan. Perhaps illness or injury disrupted your plans for a healthy life. Perhaps a financial calamity caused you to have to work longer hours and put off retirement for a few more years than you had hoped. Perhaps you’re still single, or childless, or grieving the seemingly premature loss of a loved one.

When faced with life’s disappointments, tragedies, and sorrows, all too many folks begin to just run out the clock. Depending on the stage of life they might drop out of college, or try to find a spark in new hairdos, cars, and tattoos, or as Piper famously put it: they spend the winter years of life collecting shells.

But running out the clock of life––regardless of how young you are when you start doing so––is the exact opposite disposition which Solomon teaches us to have: “Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men (Pro 22:29).” The diligent man or woman doesn’t look for the off-ramp of life, hoping simply to coast to the finish line. They are diligent, and so stand before kings, instead of standing amongst the insignificant. 

Don’t simply bleed out life. Don’t run out the clock in the hopes of sneaking off the field with a win. Rather, run up the score on the hosts of darkness. When we’re told that God has good works prepared in advance for us to do, there isn’t an expiration date on those good works. Regardless of your season of life there are sinners around you in need of the Gospel, and saints in need of consolation. Look around you, where’s the battle fiercest? Where’s the need greatest? There is your assignment.

The enchanting force of the comforts we enjoy, even the blessings which our nation has received, has lulled many into the sleep of complacency, inactivity, and spending away their years with no diligence, and therefore no legacy. God summons us to a life of diligence, yet mankind hunts for a flat spot to pitch a tent of mediocrity, laziness, and “retirement.” Don’t try to mail-in your good works or just being clock-punchers. Instead, ask as David did in the face of Goliath’s taunts: “Is there not a cause?”

How Are You Preparing?

How Are You Preparing?

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The four thousand years from Adam’s fall to Christ’s birth were full of God’s preparations to redeem us. His eternal purpose was brought about by His sovereign care over all of history’s details. His preparations all culminated in a small village. A child was born in something like a barn. This was the child who had been promised to Eve who would crush Satan’s head. And God is still preparing; preparing a bride for the second advent of His Son.

In Proverbs, we’re exhorted to cultivate the virtue of Preparation. It’s found there in a number of guises: diligence, prudence, readiness, planning ahead, providence. The slothful man is pictured as hastily living for the moment, resulting in a shamble of an existence. The diligent man, by contrast, is rewarded with wealth & largesse. 

“A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself; but the simple pass on, & are punished (Pro 27:12).”

“The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness; but of every one that is hasty only to want (Pro 21:5).”

“Every purpose is established by counsel: & with good advice make war (Pro 20:18).”

During Christmastime we all busy ourselves with preparation. We prepare gifts, food, decorations. After all, the presents don’t wrap themselves, the turkey won’t cook itself, and the Christmas tree won’t chop itself down to ornament itself. We arrange schedules for the Christmas meal and gussy up for the Christmas Eve service. This month is brimming over––like your waistlines after a month of fudge, cheese, and egg nog––with preparations.

This season should remind us of how we ought to go about our entire life. We’re always preparing. We’re either preparing like the wise son of Proverbs, or like the lazy fool. Either like a Scrooge, Grinch, Couch Potato; or a diligent man, imitating the providence of God. One day you will give an account for your life. Will you be ready for that reckoning? 

Ben Zornes