THE DANGER IN LAZINESS

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In Christ, Mark

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

Through laziness, the rafters sag; because of idle hands, the house leaks.

Ecclesiastes 10:18

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

There may be no worse detriment to achieving the kingdom work of God than laziness. I say this because if you look at the commands of the Lord in the scriptures, particularly in regard to service, we are called to take action. Just consider the Great Commission of Jesus as one of the first examples:

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 28:19-20a

Go. Make. Baptize. Teach.

All are words that tell us to do something. There aren’t any options given. It isn’t up to us to choose when we do and don’t want to carry out the tasks. No, Jesus said to go and make disciples, to baptize and teach all He has commanded. We’re to get busy and do what he said. Period.

There in is the danger in laziness. For laziness is anti-action and thus counter to carrying out the Great Commission or any other calling the Lord gives us to include a ton of work that is needed in any church you can walk into to worship.

Note: Did you know that most of the time around 10 to 20 percent of the people do 100 percent of the work in a church? The rest of the people seem to always have an excuse why they can’t help but most of the time, they are just spiritually lazy.

With this matter of laziness being such a detriment to the work the Lord wants done here on earth, it’s no surprise that the word of God chimes in with guidance on the matter. Look at this verse from the 10th chapter of Ecclesiastes:

Through laziness, the rafters sag; because of idle hands, the house leaks. v 18

The bottom line here is clear. A person who is lazy or idle doesn’t get things done. There is no initiative taken and what needs done is put off until later with neglect typically leading to deterioration and eventual failure or ruin.

Home repairs are not made when needed and so rafters sag and roofs leak. Eventually, the rafters will just simply collapse as will the roof, maybe even killing the lazy person who reclines underneath them.

Take this out to other examples and you may be able to see parallels.

A person too lazy to exercise finds themselves obese with their muscles suffering from atrophy. When that happens, they continue to lose what little strength they have and eventually their health will begin to decline, perhaps to the point where they become afflicted with a disease or even die.

A person too lazy to work will sit around and always look for someone to hand them something. The more someone provides for them, the more they don’t see the need to show any motivation to find work. And if that would happen, they will simply translate their laziness into the workplace and look to get paid for minimal effort.

Finally, a person who chooses to be lazy spiritually will refrain from doing what the Lord calls them to do and subsequently, become less and less like Jesus. This is because Jesus was always active. There was never a time when He wasn’t about His Father’s business and as Christians we are to do likewise.

It was Jesus who gave us the Great Commission, telling us to go and make and baptize and teach. We were called to carry on His work and that call is to action not passiveness. There is simply too much at stake as so many need to hear the gospel and find their way to salvation.

In the end translation, lazy people aren’t willing to go and do anything. They don’t see the need to better themselves or anyone else for that matter. Rather, they prefer to just stay put and sit around. Maybe they need to hear the following parable Jesus told to His disciples, a parable that underscores the danger in laziness when it comes to working for the Lord:

Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them.  To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey.

The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.

After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them.

The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. “Master,” he said, “you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.”

His master replied, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!”

“The man with two bags of gold also came. “Master,” he said, “you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.”

His master replied, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!”

Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. “Master,” he said, “I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.”

His master replied, “You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 25:14-30

What do you want the Lord to say to you?

Is it “Well done, good and faithful servant!” or “You wicked, lazy servant!”?

In the end, how you respond to the Lord’s call to action will provide the answer.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

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