USELESS

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

A sluggard says, “There’s a lion in the road, a fierce lion roaming the streets!”

As a door turns on its hinges, so a sluggard turns on his bed.

A sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he is too lazy to bring it back to his mouth.

A sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven people who answer discreetly.

Proverbs 26:13-16    

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

I’ll start this devotion with a statement I believe is spiritually true.

A believer who is lazy is useless when it comes to being the kind of servant the Lord expects him or her to be.

Don’t believe it? Then consider the following two questions:

1. Don’t the Lord’s commands call us into action?

The answer is an absolute yes! There are many examples but just look at the final task that Jesus gave His disciples (and all of us) before ascending to sit at the Father’s right hand:

Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. Matthew 28:19-20

Go. Make. Baptize. Teach.

All calls to action. All calls to be useful in a way that will help others enter into their own relationship with Christ, a relationship that will call them out of inactivity and into employment.

2. Don’t the scriptures speak badly about those who are lazy?

Again, the answer is an absolute yes! Just looking at today’s proverbs, we see that God’s word does not support those who choose lethargy over motivation. Look at these verses from Proverbs, Chapter 26:

A sluggard says, “There’s a lion in the road, a fierce lion roaming the streets!” Proverbs 26:13

One of the axioms of leadership we used in my naval service was “Results, not excuses.” I believe this is the Lord’s desire for all those He has called to His purposes. A lazy person, referred to here as a sluggard, will find any excuse to not go out to do something. In the instance of the proverb, it is the assertion that there is a lion roaming about making it too dangerous to go out. The sluggard in this instance and any other instance where they come up with a different excuse to try and validate their laziness is simply useless to the Lord for anything.

As a door turns on its hinges, so a sluggard turns on his bed. Proverbs 26:14

Think about a door. It never moves from the doorpost from which it is hinged. All it does is simply swing in and swing out, nothing more and nothing less. This is what a sluggard is compared to, so lazy that they don’t move from the bed they are seemingly hinged to. Rather, all they do is turn over one way and then back the other, nothing more and nothing less. You can’t get more useless than this commitment to slothfulness.

A sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he is too lazy to bring it back to his mouth. Proverbs 26:15

The illustration here is that a sluggard can start a task but cannot finish it, even something simple as eating. Such is the sad state of their lazy condition. The Lord is not interested in people not committed to see a calling through to completion. This is just one more reason a sluggard is useless to the Lord when it comes to accomplishing His purposes.

A sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven people who answer discreetly. Proverbs 26:16

  

Perhaps this is the biggest issue with someone who is lazy. They live a lie by thinking they are the smart ones. After all, they are able to live and breathe and eat and sleep with little or no effort expended. While others are out working and working and working, a sluggard can just sit around and do what they want to do, which is usually nothing. After all, that’s what makes them a useless sluggard in the first place and distances them from useful people who are discreet and prudent in the Lord’s sight.

Friends, it’s time we looked ourselves in the mirror and asked whether or not we are as proactive as we need to be for the Lord. For we are called to be useful, called to action in order to accomplish the His will and way. Anything other than that is unacceptable for the Lord will not stand for any of His followers to disrespect His call, rejecting useful initiative for the useless life of a sluggard.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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