Slothfulness

For Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Proverbs 19:15

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

Laziness makes a person weary. Inactivity slows down the body's metabolism. Taking it easy causes even the easy to become laborious. And as activity grows more wearisome, so then one is unable to produce a living.

We see this in the workplace. There is the employee who drags into work. He then takes a long time to "settle in." He needs his coffee; he needs to chat a bit. He needs to ease into his work. He then needs to take breaks, check his email, check the news, see how others are doing. He always "has a lot to do"; if only the company would hire more people. In essence he is in a deep sleep even during his waking hours.

Then he wonders why others get promoted over him. He thinks his supervisor doesn't understand his situation. Nor, for that matter, did the supervisor in his other job, nor any of the supervisors in the jobs he bounces around in. He suffers hunger in that he cannot afford the things he wants or advance as he thinks he should. But even his hunger cannot move him to do what is necessary because it is more comfortable to rest, to sleep than to be productively active.

So it is with many spiritually. There are many who are quite active in attaining worldly success, but are in a deep sleep spiritually because, well...they just aren't "religious." They move about in their dream world, unwilling to wake up from their comfortable beds. They too suffer hunger, but their idleness keeps them from seeking God.

They also easily come up with excuses: Who can know the truth? Too many religions. A God of love will not condemn. I have a good heart. Religion is just too much work.

What will mark you day today? Slothfulness or productive activity?