Working Your Land

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Gentlemen, every day is a battle. A battle for your faith, your family, and your purpose. The men who stand strong don't prepare when the battle arrives. They prepare before it begins. Welcome to the men's morning devotional. Let's get into God's word. It's time to man up.

Chris Alessi 0:26

All right, men, welcome back to the men's morning devotional. Yesterday we talked about being rooted, that hidden foundation that holds when a man's life hits hard. Today we're gonna go from the root to the routine because a rooted man still has to show up every day and do the work. And Solomon actually has something blunt in the book of Proverbs to say about a man who doesn't. So here's your man up moment for today. A man who chases fantasies is just a dreamer with good excuses. Proverbs 1211 says this whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits lacks sense. This is one of the most practical verses in all of Proverbs, and Solomon doesn't dress it up. Work your land, you eat. Chase worthless things, you go hungry. That's it. There's no nuance or complicated framework. The reward goes to the man who shows up and does the actual work in front of him. Does the actual work. But that phrase of working his land is important because in the original language, it's it's speaking very specifically to what the Lord has given him, his land, the work God specifically assigned to you, your family, your calling, your responsibilities and relationships. We know as men we can be enormously busy and yet never work our land. We can be hustling in 20 different areas, but they're not really ours. And we're neglecting the things that are. Solomon isn't calling us as men to more activity. He's calling us to the right activity. Then he describes the opposite of that type of man. He says it's a man who follows worthless pursuits. In the original language, that phrase carries the idea of chasing vapors, illusions, things that look substantial but have no weight to them. It describes an emptiness. And Solomon has a pretty sharp verdict here. He says that man lacks sense, not ambition or hustle or vision or even success. The basic practical wisdom to recognize what is real and what isn't, what will produce and what won't. Every man has a version of the worthless pursuit temptation. It might be the get rich quick scheme that keeps him from building the slow, steady thing, or the next idea instead of the last one that's already underway and not finished yet. The fantasy of a different life that keeps him from investing in the actual one he has. The endless scrolling and consuming that keeps him from creating and building. His land is right in front of him. It's right in front of you. The question is, will you work your land? Or will you chase fantasies, emptiness, and worthless pursuits? I remember stress being defined as what happens when a man ignores something he shouldn't. Maybe there's something at home or in your inner life that's stressing you out. You see, a man that is chasing fantasies will ignore it. But the righteous man, the rooted man that we talked about yesterday, the man that will get bread is the man who doesn't ignore what stresses him out, but faces it. So here's your man-up challenge for today as you work your land. Name it. Name your land. The specific responsibilities God has given you that deserve your best. Name them honestly. What worthless pursuit has been pulling your focus away from it? Make one concrete decision today to redirect that energy back to where it belongs. Let's pray. Lord, help us to see our land clearly, the work, the people, the responsibilities you've actually given us. Give us the sense to stop chasing what won't produce and the discipline to show up every day for what will. In Jesus' name, amen.

SPEAKER_00 4:40

All right, gentlemen, you've heard God's word. Now go live it. Leave well. Stand strong. Honor God in everything you do. Share this devotional with another brother. Remember, every day is another opportunity to man up.