The Dignity of Labour vs. the Concept of Favour



Lately, I had a meeting with some Christian youths where I asked how many of them love “labour”. Only two hands went up. But when I asked how many of them love “favour”, every hands went up. I understood why they took that stand. This is because of the emphasis on “favour” and the misconception of the word “labour” in our Churches today, while relegating the dignity of labour.

If you have a misconception of these two words, you will be waiting for God to make things happen for you while your counterparts and competitors who are unbelievers, would be working their way to success. That would only confirm the proverb of our Lord Jesus Christ when he said that; “for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.” Luke 16:8b.

The concept of favour does not negate the concept of labour; this is one truth you need to accept. You need to work. You have to be diligent in what you do; this is what will open the door of favour for you to stand before kings and great men. For the Scripture says; “Seest thou a man diligent (industrious) in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men.” Proverbs 22:29.

The concept of favour

Never forget that we are living in a world that runs on laws and principles and not by magic or luck. Just because you are a Christian doesn’t automatically mean that you will enjoy favour when you lack good morals or you are lackadaisical about your responsibilities.

Favour is not free. Favour comes after you have done the best; through diligent in whatever you are doing. You enjoy favour from your costumer when you are good at what you do. Favour does not come by confession alone, but by diligence and by following the principles of life.

One of such principles that guarantee favour is showing kindness and courteous. This will make people to love you back and show you favour where necessary. To confirm this Proverbs 3:3-4 reads; “Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart: So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.”

I don’t just believe in favour, I love favour and I do experience favour. However, maturity has taught me that favour is not free. There are conditions that put you in the place of favour and one of which is being industrious at what you do. I don’t enjoy favour just because I am Gavin. No! It came, either directly or indirectly because of the input or impact I have made to a persons or a system. You too can agree with me that every favour you have ever enjoyed came as a result of a seed you have sown which might be seed of kindness or labour.

The concept of labour

On the other hand, labour is not a sinful act neither is it a bad word, as some suppose. Labour is not a result of the fallen nature. Actually, work was instituted by God even before the fall of man (Genesis chapter 1 & 2). The fall of man only made the nature of work to be more difficult. So, the call to labour is not a call to frustration but a call to be co-creator with God.

Every student that has ever succeeded in his or her academics will attest to the fact that they had to labour hard in their studies to achieve the feet they got. Without corresponding hard work, success is not guarantee. It is when you’ve put in the required effort that God comes in to bless the work of your hand, thereby making you to experience favour before men.

Labour is what makes a man. The end result of any venture is not actually what makes a man but rather the process that he went through to achieve that result. Completion of the process of preparation is what opens the doors of favour and opportunity. Esther had to go through the rigorous process of preparation and purification before she got the favour of the King Ahasuerus. Cutting corners in the name of walking in favour is not good for anyone.

Paul made it clearly that he laboured more than all the apostles. 1 Corinthians 15:10 reads;  But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace (favour) which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace (favour) of God which was with me.” The results of his labour are shown in the book of Acts and his letters are all as a result of his industriousness.

For those that suggest that Believers shouldn’t labour, they should understand that the word labour appeared more than 87 times in the Bible. Few of which are:

“…wealth from hard work grows over time. Proverbs 13:11b NLT

Hard work always pays off;” Proverbs 14:23a MSG

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

“There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God.” Ecclesiastics 2:24.

“Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.” Ephesians 4:28.

“For ye remember, brethren, our labour and travail: for labouring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God.” 1 Thessalonians 2:9

“And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; And to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. And be at peace among yourselves.” 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13.

“Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.” Hebrews 4:11.

All the above Scriptures are pointers to the fact that we should be hardworking and serious with whatever we are doing if we must become successful in our endeavour.

Jesus Christ understood the concept of labour that is why He prayed the Father to send in more labourers. Matthew 9:37 “Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers (not people that are only depending on favour) into his harvest.”

God is not a respecter of persons. God only respects the laws and principles He has put in place to govern the earth. That is why the Scripture speaking about God, reads; “for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.” An unbeliever who labours hard in his course would succeed more than a Christian that is lazing around; but only expecting favour.

We should stop lazing around with the wrong mindset that we are not expected to labour hard. For you to succeed and enjoy favour in whatever you are doing, you must of necessity work hard and become the best in it. Let’s become industrious in whatever we have decided to do in life.

HINTS TO ACHIEVING ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE



What is excellence?

Excellence is the quality of being outstanding or extremely good at what you do. It is a conscious develop attitude or habit over a period of time. It is not a trait that is inherited but one that is developed. That is why you could find a man that has excelled in all his endeavours but his children are failures, you also find a reverse of the same case. This is because the trait of excellence cannot be transferred by blood, but it can only be learnt and developed. This goes to show that you can excel in life whether your biological parents are successful or not.

Excellence doesn’t imply perfection, but it’s only a walk towards perfection. And it has a price tag which is sacrifice. Excellence is never achieved on a platter of gold. You don’t achieve excellence just by being indifferent to things that concern you. Excellence is a spirit. Excellence should be developed to become a habit which is exhibited in everything that one does.

Achieving academic excellence

You can apply excellence in every of your endeavour in life. One aspect of life that demands excellence is in the aspect of academics. I believe everyone can excel academically if they desire it and if they know how to achieve it.

One of the first steps to achieving academic excellence is having the right motivation. Why do you want that degree? What is your drive? What do you want to achieve with that degree? If you can answer these questions rightly, you would not need anyone to compel you to study or put in your best.

Let us have some tips that would keep us focused and motivated in achieving academic excellence.

1.      Know and believe in yourself. The first step towards achieving excellence in your academics is to know yourself and believe in what you can do. Have confidence in yourself and your inherent ability.
2.      Know your limitations and weak point: Know your weak point and limitations and work at it. For example, if you are an engineering student but you are poor in mathematics; that is a weak point that would affect other of your courses. Work on improving in mathematics.
3.      Know your strength. Know yourself, your worth, your built, strength and abilities. Everyone have something that puts them at advantage. Look critically into your life and check what you have and leverage on it.
4.      Set a target. Have a goal in mind. What grade are you targeting in that course? Do you have all it takes to achieve that? If not, go work at getting all it takes to achieve your target. When you set a target, you brace up yourself to achieve it.
5.      Know what it requires. You need to know what it takes (the cost and sacrifice it requires) to achieve your goal. Does it require you get a new book? Does it require that you increase the number of hour of studies? Check it up and give it all it takes.
6.      Prioritize your activities. Set things in your life in order of importance. What priority have you placed in achieving that degree vis-à-vis other activities that are prone to eating up your time? Check it up and place achieving that degree a top priority and you will see that you will succeed.
7.      Discipline yourself to study: this is a conscious control over your life and lifestyle. You have to be in control of your life and not leave it to chance. You can not achieve anything in life without self-discipline. You should not wait for an external force to push you to do what you ought to do.
8.      Stay Focused. Focus all your time, energy and resources in achieving that goal. Give it all it takes to achieve your aim. Don’t allow anything to take you off course.
9.      Manage your time. Manage and organize your time in such a way so as to achieve maximum return from it. Understand your peak period and leverage on it. Do away with every form of time wasters.
10.  Keep right association. Keep right company that would spur you to achieve excellence in your academics. Never associate with friends that would waste your time or divert your focus.
11.  Prepare early. Prepare adequately and early for your test and examination. The saying that, “proper preparation prevent poor performance”, still holds true today. You can achieve much if you prepare early.
12.  Depend on God’s blessings. Never forget nor neglect the God factor. Trust God to crown your effort with success.

Beware of the following attitude

1.    Indolence. Laziness and idleness attitudes must be avoided. To achieve success you must negate laziness. For hard work is a major requirement to achieving success.
2.    Procrastination. What must be done must be done in the right time. Avoid the habit of postponing doing things that makes for academic excellence.
3.      Stupidity. Avoid doing things or indulging in things or acts that would jeopardise your chances of achieving success in your academics.
4.      Nonchalance. A nonchalant attitude is one that is indifferent about important things. When one is nonchalant about his or her studies, he is bound to fail. You can’t be unserious about your studies. For you to achieve academic excellence, you must take achieving that degree very important.

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