Monday, January 9, 2012

The Ways of the Sluggard

Devotional for 1.9.12

During the month of January we’re focusing on Wisdom about Work. Let’s turn to Proverbs chapter 26 to get wisdom that goes beyond the gold!

THE WAYS OF THE SLUGGARD

She works with eager hands.
Proverbs 31:13b

Sluggard. Webster defines it as a habitually lazy person, synonymous with a couch potato and loafer. Proverbs chapter 26 gives word pictures to what it looks like on the street:

The sluggard works harder at making excuses than doing the task at hand. The sluggard says, “There is a lion in the road, a fierce lion roaming the streets” (v 13)! Really? In general, lions prowl at night and sleep during the day when people should be at work. Yet that’s the ridiculous mindset of sluggards; they dream up excuses for why now is not a good time to start a project or give their best to their work. Do you have a lion’s share of excuses for not doing the hard work of sticking to a budget, fixing nutritious meals for your family, cleaning the shower, or memorizing scripture?

The sluggard moves, but goes nowhere. As a door turns on its hinges, so a sluggard turns on the bed (v 14, TNIV). Like a door that moves, but goes nowhere have you ever spent a day at work within your home or at the workplace and accomplished nothing? You were busy, busy, busy, but not on task to the things He called you to do. Are you running aimlessly or running in such a way as to get the prize (1 Corinthians 9:24, 26)?

The sluggard is too lazy to feed herself. It’s one thing not to feel like cooking tonight, the height of laziness is not feeling like feeding yourself. Sluggards bury their hands in the dish and are too lazy to bring them back to their mouths (v 15, TNIV). The sluggard got the food to the plate, but then didn’t follow through by getting the food to her lips! Did you make New Year’s resolutions? Did you get your goals to the paper? Great! Now do the hard work and follow through, moving it from paper to action, from good intentions to accomplishments.

The sluggard rationalizes her laziness. Sluggards are wiser in their own eyes than seven people who answer discreetly (v 16, TNIV). Her laziness makes sense to her. She’s convinced herself that she doesn’t have self-discipline, and she never will. This is just the way she’s been wired. When foolish thinking is coupled to laziness, and the wise counsel of others is rejected, a person is without hope. Do you see people who are wise in their own eyes? There is more hope for fools than for them (v. 12). Reject foolish thinking about your gifts and abilities and focus on truth: God gave YOU a spirit of self-discipline (2 Timothy 1:7)!

Wisdom Step: Think about your work. Do you work with eager hands or are you a sluggard?

Being a sluggard is the fool’s way of responding to God’s call on our lives to be productive and diligent for His glory.
Anthony Selvaggio

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