What Does It Mean to Work Hard?

Work hard and become a leader, be lazy and become a slave. Proverbs 12:24

This verse was part of my morning devotions today. I read it a couple of times. The part that struck me was the first two words “work hard.” I asked the question of myself, “What does it mean to work hard?” It might not be what we think of at first.

Work hard does not necessarily mean physical labor. Work hard does not necessarily mean putting in long hours. Yet, these are likely the first things that pop into our head.

This is what “work hard” means for me. First it means to avoid distraction. It is easy to be distracted from our work and from what we really need to be doing. How many busy days have you looked back upon and asked, “what did I accomplish?” Working hard means to be focused. It means that any given moment we are doing what is important. This is not necessarily the thing that feels urgent.

A second thing it means for me is to go the extra step. This is closely related to avoiding distraction. We often want to go the extra step, but don’t have time to do so, because we were not successful in avoiding distraction. It’s not just washing the car, but taking the little extra care to polish. It is the polish that stands out. It is that extra little shine that makes it stand out. We can apply this to all the opportunities where we serve. Do we put the extra little polish on the places we serve?

This leads to a third thing. Working hard is about serving. Jesus would say that whoever wants to be great, must become a servant. He would say of himself that he came not to be served, but to serve. The big twist here is that a leader is a servant. A leader is working hard, not for themselves, but for others. Working hard is about putting others first. This is hard to do. Because we want to stand at the front of the line.

So what do you think? What does it mean to you to work hard?