It’s been some months since I began my small vegetable garden project in my backyard. I am not much of a farmer nor am I a particularly outdoors person you know so at least three full months had passed since I started working on my garden – without much progress. The truth of the matter is that; true enough some minor challenges had emerged derailing my plans but I ultimately had just been lazy!
But God being our loving Father used my own laziness to convict me; “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” Romans 8:28. Yes it is true. As I was busy being lazy; browsing through my Facebook, one of the posts ministered to me about laziness. I cannot recall the specific details of this post, however I perfectly remember how the Spirit convicted me thereafter much to the effect that I had to do more research on the subject. Perhaps because I had not thought much about laziness/slothfulness I therefore had not studied much scripture on this subject. But after this post I now began to wonder what God says about laziness. Is my Father happy when I am lazy? Well the short answer, I soon discovered, is NO! The long answer is NO, laziness not only displeases God but also invites poverty into one’s life.
Laziness attracts poverty
“Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of hands to sleep; so shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man” Proverbs 6:10-11. Mmmm 🤔, so while we enjoy our lazing around, poverty begins to enjoy our company . So I realize that even though I am apparently in solitude while ‘potatoeing’ in my couch, I infact I’m not alone; poverty is busy building a tent right there in my house. If I am not careful, poverty will attain permanent residence or worse – become the landlord! I notice that in Romans 8:35 Apostle Paul writes; “Who, then, can separate us from the love of Christ? Can trouble do it, or hardship or persecution or hunger or poverty or danger or death?” So unless poverty is a being/a spirit why would the apostle refer to poverty as ‘who‘? If poverty is a being then it means poverty can well be invited and also chased out of a man’s life. The prescribed cure to poverty, according to scripture, is hard-work-which is the opposite of laziness.
Laziness limits our ability to care for our families
If we are lazy how can we have enough for ourselves and if we barely have enough for ourselves, how then can we possibly take care of our families. Taking of our families as Christians is not a matter of if we can, it’s an expected standard. If we claim to be Christians then we must take care of our families-“If anyone does not take care of his own relatives, especially his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”1 Timothy 5:8 . So not only are we candidates for poverty by just being lazy but, laziness also makes mockery of our faith! By allowing laziness to reign we could be considered worse than unbelievers! We must labor so that we can take care of our families as this is a role we are called into as Christians.
“A Lazy Man has nothing”
Proverbs 13:4 – “The soul of the lazy man desires, and has nothing; but the soul of the diligent shall be made rich”. Besides escaping poverty, having enough to care for ourselves and our families we may also attain riches by shunning laziness. The word rich, according the Oxford dictionary can mean ‘plentiful and abundant’ or ‘being wealthy’. Regardless of whichever interpretation we choose to go with, rich is certainly more desirable than ‘have nothing’. In this context, I understood nothing to mean ‘shuttered dreams’, ‘delayed success’, ‘literally nothing’, ‘no self-confidence’ and no materialistic possessions. If say you are a student and desire good grades but are lazy then yes the desire will certainly be there but may never materialize because of nothing but laziness. As a direct consequence you may even fail and have to repeat the year hence delaying your success. The worst case scenario being eventual dropping out of college – shuttered dreams.
Our Lord Jesus Christ was never lazy
Our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ, was never lazy! The Bible shows this clearly in multiple areas; Luke 5:16 reads “But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray”. Similarly, Mark 1:53 displays this diligent character of Christ and reads “Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed”. So you see, our Lord was a diligent man, never lazy, He even woke long before dawn. If then my dear we are Christians then we aught to be like Him “He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.” 1 John 2:6. Diligence is also rewarded by our Father “…he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him”.
Laziness hurts our Christian walk
In Romans 12:11 Paul rebukes laziness, advising us to “Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically.” I notice here the stern ‘never!’. It seems that even the term ‘laziness’ should not be so much as found in a Christian’s vocabulary. The Apostle writes about laziness again in Hebrews 6:12 cautioning us about laziness: “We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.” Reading this last scripture I understood it to mean: we are not be lazy as we journey in Christ lest we, according to Paul, miss out on our inheritance. Missing out on our great promise is perhaps the greatest lost resulting from laziness. I certainly would not want that!
I am certain there is plenty more lessons in scripture about laziness (please share some lessons in the comment section 😊) but from the little I have studied I realize I absolutely need to repent and ask the Holy Spirit my helper to help me overcome it. I pray and I trust our Father that even if you my dear reader indulged in laziness before today you repent and ask God to replace that laziness with diligence instead so we continue in this Christian walk pleasing Him in all we do.
Today’s declaration: I may not be a finished product yet but I believe that He who started the work in me is faithful to complete it.
Prayer for accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and savior
We are not sanctified by our works but by grace shown to us through the blood of Jesus Christ that takes away our sins. So, my dear reader if you would like to journey with Christ starting from today and partake in this wonderful kingdom it is very simple: confess with your mouth and believe in your heart – “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead you shall be saved” Romans 10:9.
Please say this prayer after me: “Lord Jesus I believe that you are the son of God. I believe that you came from heaven to earth to show the way, was crucified on the cross for my sins, raised from the dead and ascended to heaven where you are seated at the right-hand of the Father. Today Lord Jesus I surrender myself to you, please wash my sins away, enter into my heart and be my Lord. I ask Lord Jesus that you also gift me the gift of the Holy Spirit to help me journey with you today and forever. Amen!” Congratulations my dear reader, you are now a new creation, redeemed by the blood Jesus Christ. Welcome to the kingdom! Please hurry today and join a Christ-centered church near you. Feel free to drop me a message in the comment section. Goodbye for now ❤
