Intercepting Entropy

John Ortberg, in one of his sermons, told of an interview with Max Dupree, the former CEO of Herman Miller, a renowned office furniture company. “Max is asked to speak a lot about leadership, and at one session somebody asked him what the most difficult thing was that he personally had to work on. This was Max’s response: ‘It’s the interception of entropy.’” Long before Max Dupree recognized this weakness in himself, Solomon gave advice to his audience as to how they could intercept their own entropy.

This story comes straight from the land of a farmer in Israel (vv.30-34). When the writer viewed the farmer’s property, he immediately discerned the kind of person he was—complacent, lazy, and one who lacked judgment. His property was overgrown with thorns and weeds and the wall stood in ruins (v.31). The sage’s audience would have been appalled at the farm owner’s carelessness and would have surmised: The owner’s sloppy habits and disorganization was evidence of his physical and spiritual neglect.

The writer quoted Proverbs 6:10-11 (vv.33-34) and rightly concluded: The owner was resting and sleeping when he should have been working. What began as a nap ultimately became a lifestyle of laziness and disregard, leading to decline. His laziness betrayed the God who had blessed him. The lesson was obvious: Hard work is a wisdom virtue, necessary for becoming wise and intercepting entropy.

If people walked past your house, looked in your garage, or sat in your office, what would they think? As followers of Jesus, we’re called to intercept entropy with the pursuit of wisdom, hard work, and diligent stewardship, including—but not limited to—organized and orderly lives. Let’s pursue wisdom and work hard in everything we do.

—Marvin Williams

Taken from “Our Daily Journey”