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我家附近有个广告牌，承诺在家工作可以获得丰厚的薪资。像这样的广告之所以吸引人，是因为我们多数人都想找到更容易的赚钱方式。

拉班知道雅各会帮助他兴旺发达起来。所以他说服外甥留下来，多工作一段时间。而雅各想出一个巧妙的方法来计算他的工资。他请拉班把他羊群中那些有点的、有斑的羊找来，这些通常都是些小的，弱的。这似乎很天真，但显然雅各还设计了一种方法，通过不寻常的饲养方式，来建立一个更大、更强壮的牧群。

在某种意义上，雅各是个足智多谋的商人，有着勤奋的职业道德。但他的故事也揭示了一种张力，许多信徒在追求属世的成功时倾向于这种张力。虽然雅各承认祝福来自神的恩赐（参创 30:30），但他的行为表明，他相信他也需要用自己的方式来得到神的祝福。

在神的计划中，无论是对雅各，还是对我们，都没有“快速致富”的计划。但我们在基督里真的有本不配得的神的恩典，引导我们“给主作，而不是给人作。”（参西 3:23-24）愿耶稣成就的工激励你在接下来的一周忠心服侍神和他人。

Near my home is a billboard that promises rich wages for working from home. Advertisements like that can be appealing because most of us want to find easier ways to make an income.

Laban knows that Jacob has helped him to grow prosperous. So he convinces his nephew to stay and work a while longer, and Jacob comes up with a cunning way to calculate his wages. He asks Laban for the speckled and spotted sheep of his flocks, and these were likely thought of as the smaller and weaker ones. This seems innocent enough, but apparently Jacob has also devised a way to build up a larger, stronger herd through unusual breeding practices.

In a sense, Jacob is a resourceful businessman with a diligent work ethic. But his story also reveals a tension to which many believers are prone when they pursue success by worldly standards. Though Jacob acknowledges that blessing comes as a gift from God (v. 30), his behavior suggests that he believes he also needs to manipulate his way into God's blessing.

There is no "get rich quick" scheme in God's plan—for Jacob or for us. But we do have the gift of God's unmerited favor in Christ, which leads us to do our work "for the Lord, not for human masters" (Colossians 3:23-24). May Jesus' finished work inspire you to faithful service for God and others in the coming week.