Last Friday night I spent a few hours with my high school students hangin' out, worshiping our Heavenly Father, and studying His words to us. We talked about how our lives are short and we never know when they could end (see Psalm 90:12; Luke 12:15-21; and James 4:13-17).
In our group this brought up a train of thought about spiritual laziness and lethargy.
Since our Heavenly Father could call us home at any moment (if you are a Christian) or call us to eternal judgement and punishment (if you are not) we must always be ready.
Being spiritually lazy is what will cause God to say, at your death, "‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you." (Luke 12:20 NIV). I would much rather hear the words "Well done, good and faithful slave" (Matthew 25:21 NASB)!
Yet this takes work. The Christian life is not an easy one and the path of a believer is not one of only intellectual consent. A slave must work for his master. You (if you are a Christian) were bought with a price (see 1 Corinthians 6:20; 7:23) from being a slave to sin to become a slave to Christ. This is infinitely better but it is a path of work.
Growing up in a Christian home I heard often of the sin of being lazy. I was to do my chores, school work, and work well. After all, the concept of being destroyed by your laziness in material things is all over the book of Proverbs.
Often this is the only area we think of when we consider laziness. Yet there is a laziness that is far more destructive and far more painful than that of being lazy in school or employment. Spiritual laziness can keep you from becoming a Christian or stunt or stop your spiritual growth once you are one.
One Holy Spirit filled author wrote the following:
"...in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation. For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises." - Hebrews 6:9-12 (ESV).
As saints ("people who have been separated from the world and consecrated to the worship and service of God") we are to show "earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises."
To be sluggish is to move slowly, be dull, or be lazy. Laziness is the opposite of earnest perseverance.
Laziness in your faith can take both inward and outward forms.
Perhaps you are being lazy in your own growth by not often and regularly praising God, studying Scripture, confessing your sins, and praying.
Or perhaps you are being lazy in your service to God by not loving on other people, meeting their physical needs, or reaching out to them with the infinitely Good News of Christ Jesus.
This laziness can creep in over time and without being noticed. To combat this laziness we must instead be earnestly imitating unshakable believers (of the past and present). We must constantly evaluate our own lives to see if we are living out our faith to its fullest.
Reader, do not be spiritually lazy. You do not know how long you have to grow in your faith or impact others with it. "You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away" (James 4:14 NASB). Your life could end when you least expect it so instead work hard on your own faith and live it out boldly today.
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The New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011.
New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001.
Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Dictionary, ed. Ronald F. Youngblood, F. F. Bruce, R. K. Harrison and Thomas Nelson Publishers (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1995).
In our group this brought up a train of thought about spiritual laziness and lethargy.
Since our Heavenly Father could call us home at any moment (if you are a Christian) or call us to eternal judgement and punishment (if you are not) we must always be ready.
Being spiritually lazy is what will cause God to say, at your death, "‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you." (Luke 12:20 NIV). I would much rather hear the words "Well done, good and faithful slave" (Matthew 25:21 NASB)!
Yet this takes work. The Christian life is not an easy one and the path of a believer is not one of only intellectual consent. A slave must work for his master. You (if you are a Christian) were bought with a price (see 1 Corinthians 6:20; 7:23) from being a slave to sin to become a slave to Christ. This is infinitely better but it is a path of work.
Growing up in a Christian home I heard often of the sin of being lazy. I was to do my chores, school work, and work well. After all, the concept of being destroyed by your laziness in material things is all over the book of Proverbs.
Often this is the only area we think of when we consider laziness. Yet there is a laziness that is far more destructive and far more painful than that of being lazy in school or employment. Spiritual laziness can keep you from becoming a Christian or stunt or stop your spiritual growth once you are one.
One Holy Spirit filled author wrote the following:
"...in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation. For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises." - Hebrews 6:9-12 (ESV).
As saints ("people who have been separated from the world and consecrated to the worship and service of God") we are to show "earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises."
To be sluggish is to move slowly, be dull, or be lazy. Laziness is the opposite of earnest perseverance.
Laziness in your faith can take both inward and outward forms.
Perhaps you are being lazy in your own growth by not often and regularly praising God, studying Scripture, confessing your sins, and praying.
Or perhaps you are being lazy in your service to God by not loving on other people, meeting their physical needs, or reaching out to them with the infinitely Good News of Christ Jesus.
This laziness can creep in over time and without being noticed. To combat this laziness we must instead be earnestly imitating unshakable believers (of the past and present). We must constantly evaluate our own lives to see if we are living out our faith to its fullest.
Reader, do not be spiritually lazy. You do not know how long you have to grow in your faith or impact others with it. "You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away" (James 4:14 NASB). Your life could end when you least expect it so instead work hard on your own faith and live it out boldly today.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011.
New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001.
Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Dictionary, ed. Ronald F. Youngblood, F. F. Bruce, R. K. Harrison and Thomas Nelson Publishers (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1995).
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