Being diligent, doing careful, quality work, and paying attention to detail are all emphasized in Proverbs. In Prov. 10:4, we read,
Lazy hands make a man poor,
                        but diligent hands bring wealth.
And, in Prov. 22:29, the quality of work and craftsmanship is stressed:
 Do you see a man skilled in his work?
He will serve before kings...
On the other hand, shoddy workmanship and doing things half-heartedly are warned against.
One who is slack in his work
is brother to one who destroys. (Prov 18:9)
All of us have experienced that. When you purchase something, you want good quality. You want it to fulfill the purpose for which it was designed. If it doesn’t, or falls apart prematurely, you feel you’ve been taken advantage of. The Message puts it, “Slack habits and sloppy work are as bad as vandalism.” When you hire someone, you expect quality work. If we don’t get it, we say we were ripped off, cheated. It is destructive. Things fall apart later because they weren’t done right or corners were cut. Big cracks show up in the drywall, the paint peals, or the car breaks down again– just “as bad as vandalism.”                  

I was sitting in the airport in Detroit a few weeks ago. You do a lot of sitting in airports anymore when you fly. A young employee of the custodial staff was coming by with his cart, emptying the trash cans. He caught my attention because he was in an animated conversation, but he seemed to be talking to himself. Then I saw it, one of those little cell phone devices that hook over your ear. Now, he was sort of doing his job. He continued working as he jabbered to friends, mechanically emptying trash cans, replacing the liners. But I began thinking, “This kid doesn’t have a clue about really working, about excellence that will get him ahead in life. He could be greeting people, smiling, lifting people’s spirits by his attitude, and observing.” This was right after the bomb plot was uncovered in London regarding using liquids to blow up planes– heightening security in all the airports. I began wondering (I had a lot of time), shouldn’t the custodial staff, in fact everyone who works at the airport be trained to be alert to anything that could be a security threat– observing people and behavior– important eyes and ears? And, I bet he would have enjoyed his work more if he took it that seriously. He wouldn’t have just been cleaning up trash, but making people’s airport time more pleasant and helping keep things safe as well as clean.

In the last “Guideposts” magazine, John Miller mentions a company president he knows that looked out his office window one day at quitting time. He saw an employee go out of his way to pick up some trash in the parking lot. He wasn’t one of the maintenance staff. The president took note of his car and found out who the employee was. Then he called him into his office and told him, “Anyone who is willing to pick up trash so that this company’s parking lot looks better has our best interests at heart.” That employee was promoted to management on the spot.

Doing little jobs, even menial tasks well is the key to success. Prov 28:19-20 expresses this:
He who works his land will have abundant food,
but the one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty.
A faithful man will be richly blessed,
but one eager to get rich will not go unpunished.
That speaks of faithfulness in the job at hand, not chasing after big money, get-rich-quick schemes. Along this line, Prov. 13:11 warns us:
Dishonest money dwindles away,
but he who gathers money little by little makes it grow.
“Little by little” is usually right. Trying to make a killing often leads to dishonest or exploitive behavior. And, how often do we see those who “strike it rich” as in winning the lottery, a few years later having very little? About one third of lottery winners end up in bankruptcy. I expect a lot of it is that they haven’t learned the discipline of “little by little,” appreciating the need to be careful with their finances.

MONEY
Let’s go on and pick up some of what Proverbs teaches now about money. More often than not, those who have learned the value of work and work well will have some measure of prosperity. For as Prov. 10:4 says,
Lazy hands make a man poor,
but diligent hands bring wealth. 
There certainly are exceptions, and we’ll touch on that in our last section regarding the needy.

God must always come first with our finances. The principle of the firstfruits is set forth in Prov. 3:9-10:
Honor the LORD with your wealth,
                        with the firstfruits of all your crops;
then your barns will be filled to overflowing,
                        and your vats will brim over with new wine.
Firstfruits means the Lord’s portion comes off the top– before anything else. We don’t wait until the end of the month to see what’s left over. Does firstfruits just mean the first clump of grapes or the first tomato? Well, it’s a bit more substantial than that. Elsewhere, it is defined as the tithe, 10% off the top. Mal 3:10 states it with a promise similar to this proverb.
“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,”  says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.”
The principle is, when we honor God and trust Him, He then honors us. The tithe is a matter of trusting God with our finances. It is substantial enough to give us pause, maybe even hurt. But it is also a concrete way of putting our money where our mouth is– saying we trust God to be our provider. Yes, it may mean rearranging some priorities, altering our budget. But in so doing, we are committing ourselves to God, Who, as Paul affirms, will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus (Phil 4:19).

A number of years ago, in another community, a young couple arrived in the community to begin a small business. They attended our church and really took hold, getting involved and growing in their walk with Christ. They were cautious and frugal in their approach to finances– starting small, building their business. The house they bought was tiny, though adequate for them. As

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their business grew and seemed to be doing well, I expected them to upgrade their housing. One day they shared with me their “business plan” that they’d found in Proverbs 24:27, a verse I’d never paid much attention to:
Develop your business first before building your house. (NLT)
They determined to get their business on a sound footing first, then they’d think about their house. It has proved to be an excellent plan. Their business has grown quite large, far bigger than I ever imagined. They did finally upgrade their housing a bit. But that business is now large enough to enable them to be seriously involved in an exciting, creative mission project for Africa the Lord has called them to initiate.

I like Prov. 11:24-26 (MSG),
The world of the generous gets larger and larger;
                                    the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller.
            The one who blesses others is abundantly blessed;
 those who help others are helped.
            Curses on those who drive a hard bargain!
                                    Blessings on all who play fair and square.
God in turn, expects us to be generous with what He’s blessed us with. Tom White made a fortune in business. Now, at age 86, he’s given it all away, 75 million dollars. He lives with his wife in Cambridge, MA in a modest two-bedroom condo in an apartment building he owns. Through an organization called Project Bread, he has helped alleviate hunger in Boston and built a hospital and clinics in Haiti. When asked if he had any regrets in giving his fortune away, he said, “Yes, I wish I had more money left. There’s still a lot I would like to do.” Yes indeed, “The world of the generous gets larger and larger.”

On the other hand, Prov. 15:27a warns us that,
A greedy and grasping person destroys community.... (Msg)
Haven’t you seen that? Greed breaks relationships. We can all probably think of families who have been estranged from one another over an inheritance. While grasping estranges us, generosity binds us together, doesn’t it?

CARING FOR THE NEEDY
In Proverbs 14:21 and 31, we read:
He who despises his neighbor sins,
                        but blessed is he who is kind to the needy....
He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker,
but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.
And then, there is this wonderful concept and promise in Prov 19:17:
He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD,
and he will reward him for what he has done.
Can you imagine the privilege of lending to the Lord? Who among us, if Jesus was here in his earthly body wouldn’t be eager to give Him a loan to cover His needs, if we had the money. Wouldn’t you be honored to do it? But, we do have that opportunity in being kind to the needy. And, that kindness often (though not always) involves financial resources. Jesus further emphasizes this truth in Matt 25:34-40
            "Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father;   take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.  For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

Genuine Christians have always realized that as God blesses us, we need to in turn bless others in the name of Christ. The early Christians lived in a world entirely lacking in social services, and they took seriously their call to be their brothers’ keepers. At the end of the 2nd century, Tertullian wrote that while pagan temples spent their donations “on feasts and drinking bouts,” Christians spent theirs “to support and bury poor people, to supply the wants of boys and girls destitute of means and parents, and of old persons confined to the house.” In 251, the bishop of Rome mentioned that “more than 1,500 widows and distressed persons” were in the care of his congregation. The pagan emperor Julian complained, “The impious Galileans support not only their poor, but ours as well.”

Two great plagues swept the Roman empire, one in 165 and the second in 251. Mortality rates were around 30%. Frightened pagans tried to avoid all contact with the afflicted, often casting the still living out in the gutters to avoid being contaminated themselves. Christians, on the other hand, not intimidated by death, nursed the sick with dramatic results. Simple nursing, tending to the needs of the sick and providing water and food without any drugs, reduced the mortality by as much as two-thirds.

Throughout history, Christians caring for the needy had been amply demonstrated. One of the professors at Whitworth, at the Whitworth Institute last month, mentioned a conversation he had with an unbeliever who was putting down Christians and churches. The man challenged, “Tell me what good do they do?” This professor simply replied, “Name the hospitals in Spokane for me.” And of course, there was the answer–  Deaconess, Sacred Heart, Holy Name, St. Luke’s.

After the Hurricane Katrina disaster last year, Roy Hattersley, an outspoken atheist columnist for the U.K. Guardian in England, watched the Salvation Army and other faith-based organization working in relief. He said, “Notable by their absence were teams from rationalist societies, free thinkers’ clubs, and atheists’ associations– the sort of people who scoff at religion’s intellectual absurdity.” He went on to say that the unavoidable conclusion was that Christians “are the people most likely to take the risks and make the sacrifices involved in helping others.” And this comes from an atheist!                                                                                                         
God’s call to us, amplified in Christ, has always been to move outward in helping others because God has helped us. Prov. 24:11-12 provides a fitting note to close on:
Rescue the perishing;
                                    don't hesitate to step in and help.
            If you say, "Hey, that's none of my business,"
                                    will that get you off the hook?
            Someone is watching you closely, you know—
                                    Someone not impressed with weak excuses (Msg)