Proverbs 18.9 says, He also that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster. This proverb deals with two very wicked types of people, the slothful and the great waster. The slothful is the one who is lazy, unmotivated, and unproductive. The great waster is the one with plenty of time, money, and talent, but is equally unproductive while being frivolous in the way he wastes his time, money, and talent. So the two are very different, but as our proverb states, they are closely related. There are several clear examples that demonstrate the truth of this proverb in clear terms. One example involves the lottery and gambling. Not every person playing the lottery and not every gambler is a sloth. I've known some people who put in 60 hours a week and are very responsible with most of their time and money. But every week they buy those tickets and every so often they take a certain amount of money that they budgeted and set aside to go gamble at the casinos. And if they win, they stick to their budgets and spend only a certain amount of time at the casinos. I'm not endorsing such behavior, but I'm just being honest and acknowledging that not all gamblers and lottery players are lazy and just looking for an easy way out of poverty. However, there is no denying that a large percentage of lottery players and gamblers actually do fall into that category. I remember people in the late 80s who would sell their food stamps at something like $100 worth for $90. The person buying the stamps made $10 off the deal, but the food stamp recipient now had cash that they could spend however they wanted to. So they both benefited from this illegal exchange. and rarely would anyone ever get caught or prosecuted for this criminal act so the food stamp recipient would take that chunk of cash they've gotten their hands on now and guess where they went? We'd see them down at the speedway or local store buying the state lottery tickets and many of these people were nothing but sloths Some of them were drunks and drug addicts. They basically were recipients of the Democrat Party's vote-buying welfare system, where these people knew that the Democrat Party would reward them with welfare giveaways if they had the power. And so that was their incentive to vote for the Democrats. And that's the truth, but we're just not supposed to say that part out loud. But proving the truth of our proverb, once in a while, one of these welfare bums would win the lottery. And if our government wasn't run by crooks, there'd be a ban on allowing anyone who's collecting welfare payments to play the lottery, by the way, but that's a discussion for another time. And when that sloth would win the lottery, then they'd just become a great waster. There's story after story of the sloth coming into large amounts of money, not only through the lottery and casinos, but through acts of crime or through legitimate means like inheritances. They receive estates and things and other means. And that sloth then, regardless of how they came into that wealth, they would just waste it all. It's just a matter of time before a sloth with great wealth wastes it all and ends up being a poor sloth again. That's the cycle. So what's the message to us? Be neither. I hope I'm not talking to a sloth or a great waster right now. Work hard. Be a good steward with your time, money, and talent. Don't be the sloth or the great waster. So how do we avoid being a sloth or great waster? How can we be sure that we do the right thing at all times? And you know, it really is very simple. It's 1 Corinthians 10, verse 31. Whether therefore ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. If our intent is to please God and to bring glory to God, then we're not going to be a sloth or a great waster. It's that simple.