The Sluggard's Excuse: Present Neglect, Future Poverty

The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing (Proverbs 20:4). The present is intimately related to the future, and the future will faithfully reflect the character. Life stands in the same relation to eternity as the time of ploughing does to harvest. If this life is spent in neglect of the soul, there will be eternal poverty.

Life's ploughing-time is the period of preparation. The farmer knows the time for preparing soil and is responsible if he does not improve it. Though life is short—fifty, sixty, seventy years—it is long enough. To each is given space for repentance; yet unlike the farmer who may miss one harvest but secure the next, our opportunity once lost never returns.

The sluggard assigns paltry excuses for neglect. "The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold"—palpably unreal. The true reason lies unconfessed: the man is a sluggard; he loves not his work. This principle crystallizes across all human life: present conduct determines future conditions. Life is a series of epochs, each with its destined work. What a man does and is settles how he fares. The most trivial act influences all that comes after and may deflect one's whole course into altogether different paths. There come to each supreme moments in our lives. In those subordinate and seemingly insignificant moments, character is forged and destiny shaped.