Some more on work…

Have you ever heard of William Wilberforce? Born in 1759, Wilberforce was a tireless opponent of slavery in England. He succeeded in abolishing the British slave trade in 1807, and his efforts helped more forward the abolition of slavery in the entire British empire.

There is a lot for us to learn from William Wilberforce. As an adult, he was a tireless worker for social justice, persevering through challenging political difficulties and failing health. He was a chronically joyful and optimistic man, known for regularly singing hymns to himself. He delighted in children, and savored a child-like faith.

If you’d like to read more about William Wilberforce, I recommend John Piper’s brief introduction to his life in The Roots of Endurance. Dr. Piper explains that while Wilberforce made some terrific accomplishments with his life, it wasn’t always that way. Converted in the winter of 1785 at the age of 26, Wilberforce lamented his wasted young adult years:

“By October he was bemoaning the “shapeless idleness” of his past. He was thinking particularly of his time at Cambridge–”the most valuable years of life wasted, and opportunities lost, which can never be recovered.” He was so ashamed of his prior life that he wrote with apparent overstatement, “I was filled with sorrow. I am sure that no human creature could suffer more than I did for some months. It seems indeed it quite affected my reason.” (Piper, The Roots of Endurance, 126)

He explained further:

“No man has a right to be idle. Where is it, that in such a world as this, [that] health, and leisure, and affluence may not find some ignorance to instruct, some wrong to redress, some want to supply, some misery to alleviate?” (Piper, The Roots of Endurance, 119)

The question for us is not: “am I idle?”, but: “in what ways am I idle?” Given our incredible health, leisure, and affluence, there is much that we and should do for the kingdom. Let’s get to work.

Categories: Drivers Ed, five15 blog