Tag: spiritual laziness

Don’t Be A Sloth

Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep, and an idle person will suffer hunger.

OLD TESTAMENT: 1 KINGS 19

POETRY: PROVERBS 19

NEW TESTAMENT: LUKE 3

Have you ever seen a sloth in the zoo or on tv?   Baby sloths are so cute.  Sloths live in Central and South America and spend their lives “hanging around” in trees.  About once a week they climb down from the tree and go to the bathroom, then they slowly climb back up again.  Sloths name means literally “lazy”.  This is because they are some of the slowest creatures on earth.  The avg. land speed of a sloth is 9 feet per minute.  That is roughly .1 mph.  I mean, I am a slow old man, but even I could win a foot race with a sloth.

The word, sloth or slothful means lazy or indolent.  The slothful person fails to engage life in a meaningful way.  They are essentially withholding energy or effort to do the things that need to be done.  Proverbs 19:15 points out this truth about the danger of sloth: “Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep, and an idle person will suffer hunger.”  Slothfulness is essentially falling asleep to life.  The consequences of sloth or laziness can be life-limiting.  So, Solomon warns the reader that the wise person who wants to live a flourishing life as God has designed will pay careful attention to the times when laziness gains control of their lives.

Now, let us pause for a moment.  Human beings were not created to work non-stop.  Workaholism is not health to our bodies, our minds, or our relationships with others and with God.  We all know people who seem like they are never able to stop working, relax, enjoy time with family and friends.  We know people who are too “busy” to God to Church, pray, read their Bibles, visit a friend who needs support or just appreciate all the gifts of life.  

God created us to be human beings, not human doings.  God built into creation a certain rhythm and flow to life.  Human beings need sleep.  It is a biological imperative.   You “have” to sleep in order to live.  In the same way, God built into creation the need to not only sleep, but to cease productive activities, to rest from work.  God said it is necessary to take one day of the week to “cease” working.  He called this Shabbat/Sabbath which means literally, to cease.  Solomon is not here prescribing workaholism.  In fact elsewhere in the Bible it says: “It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.” (Psalm 127:2).

But just as it is bad to work all the time and never get rest, it is equally bad to be perpetually slothful and not do the work you need to do.  Back to Proverbs 19 Solomon says: “The sluggard buries his hand in the dish and will not even bring it back to his mouth.”  Here Solomon introduces another term “sluggard”.  A slug is a tiny shellless gastropod.  It is a snail without a shell.  They hang around your garden all day munching on your vegetables.  Like the sloth, they also do not move very much.  A sluggard is essentially a person who is habitually lazy.  In Solomon’s example this person is so lazy that they can’t even do the simple task or moving their food from their dish to their mouth so they can eat… and live.

In short, Solomon wants us to understand that the wise person who will flourish in life as God designed will not be perpetually lazy.  You have things that you need to do to live a good and flourishing life.  If you want to reap a harvest in the Fall you must first do the work of planting the seeds in the Spring.  If you are too lazy to plant, to weed, to harvest, then you won’t have a flourishing garden, and you personally won’t flourish.

Important note: you can be busy and active doing stuff and still be slothful about what is truly important.  If you have ever sat down with your laptop to work, and three hours later realized that you have been on your computer for three hours and haven’t gotten any work done, but you’re all caught up on your social media and binge watched several episodes of your favorite show on Netflix, you know that you can be doing activities when you planned to do work.  The world is full of distractions.  And human beings are easily bored.  

Part of sloth is not being able to focus on what you really need to be doing in the moment.  Many times in my life I have found myself procrastinating on a task that I needed to do, but instead reorganized my sock drawer, rearranged my shirts by color and researched and planned my next vacation.  It is easy to get distracted away from important but unpleasant or difficult tasks by the low hanging fruit of something easy.  Do not get me wrong, we all do this once in a while and It is certainly okay at times to say, “I Do not have the mental energy at this moment to tackle that task.”  It is when it becomes habitual, when we become habitually slothful about important things that the real danger becomes apparent.

Now, finally, I must say that sometimes people have underlying health issues that reduce their energy.  For some people, sloth can be a response to trauma, a sign of clinical depression or other mental health concerns.  If you detect lethargy in your life, it might not be a character flaw, it might be a sign of a health concern, so get health.  Do not ignore sloth.  It could be a sign of a spiritual problem.  The ancient Church used the term “acedia” as a kind of substitute for sloth.  Acedia means literally, without care.  Acedia is a kind of apathy, you just do not care any more- which can be a kind of spiritual depression and it can impact our relationship with God. Do not ignore sloth: it could be a sign of a physical problem. See a doctor and get it checked out.  Do not ignore sloth: it could be a sign of an undiagnosed mental health issue, get it checked out.  Do not ignore sloth: it could be a bad habit that you have fallen into, and if it becomes a perpetual habit it will change your character and keep you from flourishing.   If this is a problem for you, talk to God about it in prayer, talk to your pastor, your parent, a trusted friend, a counselor, but do not ignore it.

~ Jeff Fletcher

QUESTIONS:

  1. In what areas of your life are you slothful? What areas are you more of a workaholic?
  2. Why can slothfulness (or acedia) be damaging to your relationships with God and others? Have you experienced some of that damage yourself?
  3. Make a list of actions or habits that you could begin to practice to fight against slothfulness in your life.
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Stunted Spiritual Growth

Hebrews 5

Hebrews 5 12

Hebrews 5:12 You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food. 

As parents, my wife and I have the exciting opportunity to watch our daughter grow. We made a growth chart where we can visibly see how much she has grown over the years. It is exciting for her and us to watch the marks get higher and higher. 

But can you imagine how shocked and concerned we would be if, instead of growing up our daughter had shrunk! We would schedule an immediate doctor’s appointment to find out what was wrong. Growth is normal and causes joy – shrinkage would be crazy and cause for alarm.

Many of the Hebrews that this letter is written to have been backsliding in their faith. They are shrinking – the author notices this and raises the alarms. He states that they are back needing the milk instead of solid food. Imagine if a teenager or adult gave up solid food for formula and pureed fruits and veggies. For some reason this seems silly but for some reason long time Christians acting like new believers does not get the same reaction.

Instead of helping others with their faith – these believers still need someone to teach them the basics again. The author wants to go deeper but fears it will go over their heads. So before he dives in to that subject, he issues a strong warning – saying, “GROW UP! You have probably been in a situation where an adult was acting like a child. You want to shout, “act your age” or “grow up.” And essentially that is what the author of Hebrews does with these Hebrew Christians. 

In vs. 11 he calls them spiritually dull and they don’t seem to listen. But they didn’t used to be this way. The language used here indicates that there was a drop off – as if they were sick and lacking energy or possibly it is a spiritual laziness. We notice an opportunity to get into God’s word but instead flip on the tv or have a free Sunday morning to go to church but instead decide to sleep in. 

If there is spiritual life, there needs to be spiritual growth.
You have to be moving forward.
Sitting still or going back is not part of a healthy spiritual life.
Make a plan and go forward.
Don’t get lazy or give up.
It is time to grow up!

John Wincapaw

Be Alert

Mark 13

Mark 13 37

In Mark 13 we see Jesus telling his disciples that things are going to get bad. Before Jesus comes back there will be trouble politically, physically, and even spiritually. This isn’t what anyone wants to hear, but it is the truth.

Politically- verses 6-9

  1. Leaders will arise in his name saying “I am He” misleading many.
  2. We will hear of wars and rumors of wars. (Isn’t this already the case? My sister is in the navy and they are always preparing for a possible war. Right now the concern is Iran.)
  3. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. (We see this, too.)
  4. You will be delivered to the courts. (You may find yourself in trouble for standing up for God’s commands. These persecutions do happen already. Check out the Colorado baker. He was “delivered to the courts” for not wanting to bake a cake for a same-sex marriage couple and recently again persecuted because he didn’t want to bake a cake celebrating someone’s transition from male to female.)

 

Physically- verses 8-9 and 12 and 14-18

  1. There will be earthquakes and famines.
  2. There will be floggings and betrayal that could lead to death.
  3. Some will have to leave their homes to run and hide.

 

Spiritually- verses 22 and 33-37

  1. There will be false Christs and prophets trying to lead people astray.
  2. Some will be found asleep.

 

Jesus says in verse 23, “I have told you everything in advance.” We shouldn’t be surprised when we see things getting rough politically or physically. God will help us with this. If we find ourselves speaking in the courts, He will send the holy spirit to help us (verse 11). If we find ourselves physically dealing with tribulation, we can find assurance in the fact that God “shortened the days” of disaster (verse 20). Jesus puts extra emphasis on the spiritual trials though. Here it is our responsibility to “take heed” and “keep on the alert”. We can’t get lazy about our devotion to our Father. If we are alert and on guard, we shouldn’t be led astray. This is why Jesus warned his disciples and it’s a warning for us, too. We don’t know when Jesus is coming back. We do know that he is and that we will want him to find us alert and ready!

-Melissa New