I had a conversation recently with a young person who wanted to start an enterprise with some of his companions. He said that none of them know anything about how to do the things they'll need to do, nor do they have any time or money set aside to learn. I immediately thought of his performance in another area.

He had been offered the chance to learn another field--provided some tools, some learning resources, and some assignments to pursue--but ultimately chose not to do anything with it.

We can all smile as we look back and recall the missed opportunities of our youthful years. But we should do more than smile. We need to examine our own hearts and lives.

Are you doing what is before you to the best of your ability, or are you sitting around lamenting the fact that you do not have the resources to do <the big thing you want to accomplish> right now? Are you casting away a possible employment opportunity in order to form a poser band?

This is a serious issue in America, supposedly the land of opportunity, and in the Church in America. It afflicts the young, predictably, but it also afflicts those of us who are older. And it is caused by wrong thinking.

You see, God rewards the diligent with more. From Joseph, forced into slavery in Egypt, we can learn about this. Little Joey is sold to a band of nomadic traders (who then sold him to a prominent Egyptian) because his diligence caused his father to trust him more than his ten brothers. Joey could have whined--God, you promised me that I'd rule over my family, but I am a slave here in Egypt; Oh woe is me--but instead, he worked hard at the tasks he was assigned. He began to rise within his master's household.

His master's wife attempted to seduce him, then trumped up sexual harassment charges against him when he rejected her. Joey denied the charges, of course, but she had grabbed his jacket as 'proof' of his misdeeds, so he went to prison. In prison, Joey diligently utilized the gifts and skills God had given him, rising again within the prison's hierarchy. But, oh how limited his authority could be when he was a convict.

Some of those he helped were released, promising to come to his aid. They didn't do anything until the king of Egypt, Pharaoh, had disturbing and obviously predictive dreams. One of Pharaoh's servants then remembered how Joey had interpreted others' dreams accurately, which led Pharaoh to release him.

As we know, Joey then interpreted Pharaoh's dreams and counseled him to start saving for a soon-coming famine and recession. His family, in nearby Canaan, wound up coming to Egypt to buy food (no one else nearby had any), and then moving there, with Joey as their benevolent ruler, in fulfillment of the dream God had given him all those years before.

So we need to be diligent at the tasks God has set immediately before us, not waiting for a better job or more money or a bigger house or less-crowded schedule. And then, as things open up, start working toward the big thing that God has placed in your heart.