Chapter 7 - Laziness and Hard Labor

Boys tend to be lazy. One of the central duties parents have with regard to their boys is the duty of teaching and instilling work ethic. "He that gathers in summer is a wise son: but he that sleeps in harvest is a son that causes shame" (Proverbs 10:5).

Work is not a result of the fall of Adam, but work goes the difficult way it does because of the fall. We were created for work. But when sin entered, Go saw that thorns and thistles were needed. In His grace, God cursed the ground. This is why boys need to be taught and disciplined in physical labor. Hard physical work is an important part of a boy's discipleship. He needs to know what it is like to be exhausted, to have callouses on his hands, and to work when his body does not really want to anymore. He needs this; God said so. He is a son of Adam.

A boy who learns to settle into his laziness is being prepared by his parents for a life of frustration. "The soul of the sluggard desires, and has nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat" (Proverbs 13:4). The fourth commandement has two parts which depend upon one another. One part, of course, is the day of rest, but the other part is the six days of labor. Without the labor, the rest is nonsensical. Without the rest, the work is slavery. Learned together, a boy comes to comprehend the dignity of labor that is offered up to God in the name of Christ.

<"Future Men" by Douglas Wilson>