day no. 15,305: the Lord will give you understanding in everything

2 Timothy 2:1-7   
You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also. Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.

Christian men must be disciples that make disciples. We can learn a lot about how we are to be those kind of men and how we are to produce more in kind by considering three occupations in which a man could find himself employed:

Soldier
Athlete
Farmer

Christian men are called to be good soldiers. We must be on mission, under authority, training to fight, willing to pull the trigger, avoiding friendly fire and aware of who the enemy is.

Christian men are called to be good athletes. We must train hard so that we are ready to perform. Most of athletics is training. Proportionally, far more time is spent preparing, game-planning and practicing than is actually playing the game. And we practice the way we play, according to the rules. If you are practicing in a way that doesn't take the rules into account, you will not succeed at the actual competition. You play the way you practice. 

Christian men are called to be hard-working farmers. Farmers know when to work and where and how to wait and for what. Farmers must work in hope and by faith knowing that the preparing of the soil and the planting will take time and grace to produce fruit. If God doesn't send the rain, the planting won't produce fruit. We work hard, but we entrust our hard work to our God.