Posted in Reports and Essays

Laziness

Slothfulness, or laziness, is not a good thing. The Bible talks much about it, and it never mentions it in a good light. Proverbs mentions it a lot. If you were to do a word search on “slothful” or “slothfulness” you would find numerous references.

So what is slothfulness? A definition of the word “slothful” is “inactive; sluggish; lazy; indolent; idle,” and the definition of the word “lazy” is “disinclined to action or exertion; naturally or habitually slothful; sluggish; indolent; averse to labor; heavy in motion.” When I think of these definitions I get a picture in my head of a person slumped down in an easy chair doing nothing, looking sluggish and bored.

However, it is possible to be lazy while you are actually doing something useful.  Say you are to sweep the kitchen floor. If you were lazy about doing the job you might not move things that would be in your way to sweep the entire floor, such as a trashcan, rug, etc. Second, you would not try to sweep the dirt off of every tile or stripe of the floor; you would just sweep wherever you happened to see some crumbs or dirt. Finally you would sweep it into a sort of pile, “try” to sweep it up into the dustpan (leaving lots behind and not bothering to get it ALL), and then dump the dirt into the trash. Some would miss the trashcan because you were so careless about dumping it in, but you would not bother to sweep it up. You would say, “Oh, well!” leave it there, and walk away.

That does sound kind of funny when you read it, but it proves the point. It is possible to do a job lazily. Ecclesiastes 10:18 says, “By much slothfulness the building decayeth; and through idleness of the hands the house droppeth through.” This, of course, only makes more work for someone else! And we know that is unfair and wrong, especially if that person is your mother (as it very well could be in the sweeping scenario!)

You say, “But what if being lazy and letting my things fall apart won’t create a mess for someone else. ­I don’t care.” We must remember that our belongings are really lent to us from the Lord, so that we can serve Him. It is poor stewardship to let the things that God has given us go to waste because we do not care to take care of them. Besides that, the day may come when you wish you had taken better care of your belongings, but it will be too late then to change your ways now.

Proverbs talks a lot about people who love sleep coming to poverty. Proverbs 24:33-34 says, “Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth; and thy want as an armed man.” You have to work to eat, so obviously if you are too lazy to eat you will eventually starve! Proverbs 26:15 says “The slothful hideth his hand in his bosom; it grieveth him to bring it again to his mouth.”

One reason why we choose to be lazy (yes, it IS a choice!!) is that we do not want to give up our comforts and our pleasure to do something that is not as much “fun.” The object of life is not to have “fun,” though; it is to bring glory to the name of the Lord and honour Him! You cannot do that very well while being a sluggard. Proverbs 6:6-8 says, “Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.” The ants are definitely not lazy! Have you ever seen an anthill with all of the ants just sitting around doing nothing? No! And, while the ants are working, do they look like they are so sad that they have to do it? Do they look like it is so hard and tiresome and boring? Of course not! God put the verses about the ants in the Bible for a good reason! He wants us to heed their good example!

It really is not worth it to be lazy. It may be “fun” for a little while, but then you will wish you had spent your time prudently and done what you should have done (I speak by experience!) Once you have wasted all of your time on pleasure you will become upset thinking about how much you still have to do! And then, if you are like me, you will just waste more time talking about how much you have to do.

Ephesians 5:15-16 says, “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” We need to spend our time wisely here on earth. James 4:14 says that our life is a vapour that “appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.” Life is so short compared to eternity. We need to stop letting our comforts and desires get in the way of doing something useful. Soon enough life will be over, and then we will wish that we had spent our time more wisely! Ask the Lord to help you make good use of your time and not to be lazy. He will be glad to help you if you are sincere.