The Way Of The Slothful

  • Zachary Datuin
Have you been putting off important things in your life? Assuming one day soon you'll do it
...but not today.
We all know how it goes, "next monday" or "later on", and then we "later on" our lives away. For some odd reason, we choose to utilize our precious time with things that actually waste it, instead of doing what we know we should be doing.
Why do we do this?
The biblical word for this behaviour is called being "slothful". While most people will say "procrastination", I believe its deeper than that. You see, procrastinating is something even productive people do at times. Slothfulness, on the other hand, is more of who you are.
Proverbs 21:25 - "The desire of the slothful killeth him; for his hands refuse to labour."
You can procrastinate and forget to take the trash out. However, when slothfulness is present, it tends to fluster into most aspects of your life because it's an issue of character.
Slothfulness looks different for everyone. For some it looks like obesity, while for others, they can't keep a job, ect. However, if you take a deeper look into the slothful persons life, you'll see it's fruit is present everywhere.
The scriptures give us a clear idea on what the attributes of a slothful person would be. I'd like to make only two points, hopefully, we can help you have a better perspective on slothfulness and how it's effecting you.
  1. Life is hard
Job14:1 - "Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble."
Consequently, once sin was introduced into this world, difficulty and laborous turmoil became the default setting in which we all live our lives. Dont get me wrong, some people have it easier than others...but life is an upstream swim for all of us to some extent.
  • There is no escaping the natural effects of sin when enduring this temporal world.
  • Sometimes you're born into a difficult life at no fault of your own.
There are diffculties in life that are outside of our control. However, there are avenues of our life that we can control. Slothfulness is the lack of character to take responsibility for those things.
Ecclesiastes - "By much slothfulness the building decayeth; and through idleness of the hands the house droppeth through."
Let's use our health for example.
Alot of us know that we need to change up our diet and start exercising. Yet, we get lazy and put it off. There's a very likely chance our health will be compramised one day because we never applied ourselves to a diet and exercise, something we knew to do.
In result, we'll struggle through constant pain, stress, anxiety, hormonal imbalances, low energy, inflammation, doctor visits, heart disease, back pain ect.
When youre too lazy to put in the hard work up front, it results in enduring a hard way to live.
  • Living a life that's decaying is hard.
  • Having bad health is hard.
  • Having a dead marriage is hard.
  • Having an overgrown yard and messy house is hard.
However...
Proverbs 14:23 “ In all labour there is profit: but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury.”
It's better to do the hard things up front, reaping the profits afterward.
  • Maintaining a healthy lifestyle is hard.
  • climbing out of poverty is hard.
  • Graduating is hard.
  • Excelling in your career is hard.
  • Growing spiritually is hard.
What's hard about a diligent & victorious life is the work upfront.
What's hard about a slothful & defeated life is the results in the end.
Proverbs 10:4 “He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich.”
My friend, CHOOSE YOUR HARD.
Galations 6:9 “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”
Will you reap the benefits of your hard work?
Or will you reap the decaying results of slothful character?
2. Diligence makes life easier
Proverbs 15:19 “The way of the slothful man is an hedge of thorns: but the way of the righteous is made plain.”
The slothful life makes it difficult to move forward.
The righteous have a clear path.
Id like to introduce two thoughts to help put this verse into perspective.
Let me illustrate,
Example: Buying a house
Generally, what are the steps to buying a house?
Get pre-approved, find an agent, house hunt, make an offer, get inspections, re-negotiate, go through escrow, closing, moving in...
First perspective :
The slothful person probobly doesnt have a down payment, doesnt have a good credit score, therefor cant get pre-approved. He has a hedge of thorns to overcome!
While the righteous was diligent and handled the finances wisely. They paid the bills on time and have good credit already. He can move forward easily, his path has been made plain!
Second perspective:
The slothful and the righteous have a different Focal point.
  • The slothful see all these steps as obstacles and are easily persuaded to never move forward.
  • The righteous see all these steps and view them as stepping stones because they are determined to own a home.
So life is hard, diligence makes progress easier.
Every moment you decide "not today", youre subjecting yourself to the deep grooves in the road of slothfulness.
Be proactive in your life. Take action even when you don't want to.
In closing, I'd like to encourage you to look at the areas of your life that you are able to control. Have you been slothful with them?
If so, I hate to say that youre making your life harder than it needs to be. Life is already hard on it's own, we can minimize our difficulty on this side of eternity by being good stewards over the the things that God has given us to be responsible for.
Questions to ask that'll help you jumpstart your journey to overcome slothfulness!
  1. What are the things you know you should be diligent in, yet youve been putting them off?
  2. How soon will you begin to start applying effort into these duties?
  3. What's one task you can impliment daily, to help you accomplish the big picture?
  4. Is there anybody in your life that'll help you stay focused by being an accountability partner?

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