The labor of the righteous leads to life,
The wages of the wicked to sin.
Proverbs 10:16 (NKJV).
If you've ever known someone who worked hard to try and avoid actually working, then you are already familiar with the sentiment that Solomon seeks to share with us in this verse. Another manifestation might be, after someone has worked hard but not achieved the result they desired, still want some sort of credit for the efforts they put forth regardless.
It is possible to busy yourself and fill your life in such a fashion that you never have any rest, but the reward for your toil is not life but death.
I once chatted with a fellow about a pornography addiction and tools that can be put on a computer to help prevent being able to access such content on the internet. I was somewhat taken aback at the casual manner in which he indicated that he would just find a way to circumvent the mechanisms because his addiction was sufficiently strong.
His wages for such a work, to pursue poison for the mind, is sin.
Conversely, it is not easy to study the Bible. While at times we can be filled with a religious fervor, often we are distracted, tempted away by the concerns and opportunities of this life before us now. Yet if we struggle against those and pursue truth contained within scripture, we will find it and the reward will be life.
When it comes to salvation, this life is everlasting in the presence of God, but the Bible also contains truths that apply to the temporal world regarding wisdom, appropriate behaviors, and ideal paths to walk whilst still in the flesh.
For example, God forbids fornication, but doesn't spend a lot of time explaining the rather long list of reasons why that is an unwise and sinful act. We can see that some people expend considerable effort to fornicate in a maximally pleasurable manner, and since their desires are wicked, the results of their efforts is sin. Others who seek to avoid such interactions, are also having to work hard because we live in an openly sexual society where "everyone is doing it", and so the effort is not so much an active pursuit but ironically a resistance to the barrage of temptation and pressure.
It takes effort to sin or to avoid it, and so how we expend our energy, to what end we seek as well as the means by which we seek, all play a role in the circumstances of life. We do not sit idly by and sin is thrust upon us, at least not in the baseline experience. Even Adam and Eve had to eat of the fruit before their disobedience was complete.
Keep this in mind then, the next time you see someone "working hard", in that just because someone is not lazy or apathetic does not mean they are participating in a process of sanctification. Some are working hard towards their own destruction, whether they know it or not.
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