Wake Up, Sluggard!
In the book of Proverbs, the writer (which most believe was none other than Solomon, whom God made the smartest man to ever live) spends a few verses describing someone he calls, “the sluggard.” What is a sluggard? Webster’s dictionary says it is not just a lazy person, but a person who is lazy because they want to be and cannot be made to want to work. What does this “sluggard” act like? And what does that have to do with me? Let’s take a look and see.
“The sluggard says, “There is a lion in the road! A lion is in the open square!” As the door turns on its hinges, So does the sluggard on his bed. The sluggard buries his hand in the dish; He is weary of bringing it to his mouth again. The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes Than seven men who can give a discreet answer.” (Proverbs 26:13–16, NASB95) From this description, we see five aspects of a sluggard. First, he has several reasons he cannot join the work to be done. He says there is a lion outside. He doesn’t know that to be true because he does not go outside to see for himself. Some of us have fallen into this same thinking with church and with sharing our faith. With church attendance, many people say they can’t go to church because of COVID-19, but they go the grocery stores, school events, and sports venues.
They do not know they will get COVID at church, but it is their excuse for choosing not to go. As far as sharing our faith, many choose not to do so because, “they will probably say no.” We don’t know this because we never try, but it is good excuse, or so we think. Second, the sluggard won’t join the work because it isn’t comfortable. He would rather pull up the covers and go back to sleep. Getting out of bed might cost me. It might mean that I don’t get to sleep in any longer. The sluggard won’t join the work because it is not as comfortable as his bed. Some of us have learned to stay home and watch a service streamed to our homes rather than we stream down to the church. He doesn’t have to dress up, put up with others’ preferences for temperature or help anyone with anything. They like staying home because it is more comfortable. Sharing our faith is uncomfortable as well, so the sluggard ignores this as well.
Consider that the sluggard is willing to take food but is too lazy to feed himself. Someone has prepared the food and he has dipped his hand in the bowl, but he is too lazy to bring it to his mouth. Now that is lazy. But it is the kind of lazy that wants to be. Some Christians are like that as well. They go to Bible studies, church services, Christian camps, and even Christian colleges and get all the study helps and experiences of worship and discipleship, but they never actually live it out. They hear what they are supposed to do, but they only hear and never do. James says they are deceiving themselves into believing they are followers of Jesus.
Sluggards also tend to think they know more than their Sunday school teacher, so why go? They think they know more of the Bible than their new pastor, so why worship? They know more about music than the music leader, more about computers and cameras than the technical team, and can deac better than our deacons, so they do not need to go to church at all. They are just fine!
Actually, what we find is that sluggard work against themselves. They have great dreams about being a pastor, teacher, music leader, deacon, etc., but they work at being lazy more than they work on the calling the think or wish they had (see Proverbs 24:30-34)
If this is you, what is a person to do who finds that they are a sluggard or that they are sluggardly in some area of life? WAKE UP! Get connected with God. Stop blaming others for the growth you are not showing. Stop accusing others of not being enough or knowing enough and realize we all have areas in which we can grow. Stop worrying about things that may never happen and trust God as Savior and Lord and follow Him even into war if necessary. Then, you will be serving His purpose in His time to His ends and not your own.