The Sluggard – Part Two

Yesterday and today we’re sharing a total of four devotionals by Charles Price, Minister at Large for The Peoples Church in Toronto, Canada. Click the individual titles to read at source.

Look to the Ant

“Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.” —Proverbs 6:6-8

To correct the sluggard’s attitude, Solomon suggests looking to the ant. Ants are incredibly strong creatures, able to carry the heaviest weight of any animal in proportion to its size. They are also highly social, existing as part of colonies where each ant has a specific job to do. But what in particular can the sluggard learn from the ant?

Firstly, an ant’s work ethic exemplifies responsibility. Unlike the sluggard, ants look beyond their immediate needs. The sluggard only works to provide for the here and now, but the ant collects food in summer for the good of the colony down the road. Ants spring into action whenever their colony is under attack. The apparent chaos that occurs when we knock off the top of their anthills is really an incredibly organized re-digging and repairing of tunnels.

Secondly, the sluggard can learn reliability from the ants. No one needs to tell an ant it is time to gather food or rebuild tunnels. There are no commander ants looking over shoulders and demanding everyone do their part. When there is a need, every ant can be relied upon to fill it. Of course, this is largely because of instinct in which ants are essentially pre-wired to act this way, but they still serve as good examples for the sluggard. Our communities are strengthened when people do a task they know needs doing without having to be asked or checked up on.

Finally, the ants’ interdependence on one another for the colony’s success teaches the sluggard respect. Not every ant is a gatherer or re-builder. There are actually three kinds of ants—queen ants, worker ants and soldier ants—and each type has specific roles within the colony. The queen’s job is simply to be fed and lay eggs so the colony can grow. She is served by the worker ants that dig tunnels, incubate eggs and take care of the resulting babies. Meanwhile, the soldier ants are the ones gathering food and defending the colony.

The sluggard wastes his gifts by not looking beyond his immediate self-interest, but ants exemplify respect for each other by reliably fulfilling their particular roles for the greater good of the colony. This should remind us of when Paul describes the church as the body of Christ.

We all have a place within this body, including the sluggard, but bodies only work when there is mutual interdependence between its members. In the same way, the church is strongest when we each take responsibility for tasks that fit our gifts and callings, work reliably to get them done and show mutual respect for others within the body by encouraging them do the same.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank You for the remarkable example of the ant. May their responsibility, reliability and respect be a regular reminder of how to execute my role within Your church. Thank You, Lord.

Sluggard in Our Souls

“What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?”  —Mark 8:36

While Jesus was teaching one day, a man called out to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me” (Luke 12:13). This inspired Jesus to tell a parable about the dangers of greed, but it also has a lesson for the sluggard. Jesus describes a rich man who had an exceedingly successful harvest. Realizing his barns could not hold all the extra grain, the man decided to tear them down and build bigger ones. He figured he could live comfortably off the excess and his future would be one of “eat, drink and be merry” (Luke 12:19). 

This man was no sluggard. He followed the wisdom of Solomon, planting in season so he would have a harvest down the road. He reaped the benefits of an abundant harvest and had the good sense to increase his storage capacity. “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’” (Luke 12:20) There is nothing wrong with providing for future material needs, but what about our souls? The man in this parable was disciplined and had a good work ethic, but he neglected the most important thing. We may gain every material blessing and comfort we could ever want, but it will amount to nothing if we are sluggards in our souls.

Some of us have been putting off responding to the Holy Spirit’s promptings. Maybe we have felt His leading to spend more time in His Word or prayer but we never make the time. Maybe we engage in the same sin over and over because we know Jesus will forgive us. Maybe we have been avoiding witnessing to someone at work because “it just hasn’t been the right time.”

Sadly, many people even put off entering a relationship with Jesus Christ because they think there is always tomorrow, but tomorrow is promised to no one.

The reality is that life is short. Schedules remain busy, temptation constantly knocks, coworkers leave for other jobs and death comes unexpectedly. This is the danger of spiritual slothfulness. The man in the parable was caught unprepared; a sluggard in his soul. His life had been all about himself and no amount of wisdom could help him now. In Matthew 16:26, Jesus asks, “What can anyone give in exchange for their soul?”

There is nothing we can give in exchange for our souls, but the day will come when our souls will be required of us. What we decide in the present will determine our future, which is why a true Christian shares what they have and lives with eternity in mind.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, shift my focus from concerns of this life to spiritual matters. Keep me from becoming a hoarder and instill in me a heart that generously shares the blessings You have graciously given me. Thank You, Lord.

 

 

The Sluggard – Part One

Today and tomorrow we’re going to look at a total of four devotionals by Charles Price, for many years teaching pastor of The Peoples Church in Toronto, Canada. Click the individual titles to read at source.

The Squandering Sluggard

“How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest-—and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.”

—Proverbs 6:9-11

The early church fathers concluded that most sins derive from seven attitudes, which they called “the Seven Deadly Sins.” The last of these is sloth, though Proverbs refers to this as being a sluggard. The word sounds exactly like what it means: a person who is “inert, inactive, slow moving, sluggish.”

The opening verses describe a sluggard as someone who does not commence things. He knows there are things that need doing, but he consistently postpones doing them. He would rather rest and take it easy, forgetting that rest comes from a background of labour. Just as God rested after His work of creating, the fourth commandment states, “Six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath day to the LORD your God” (Exodus 20:9-10). The Sabbath is a day of rest to be enjoyed because we have worked, but the sluggard would like the commandment to be, “Rest now, and when you are really hungry, then do something to get some food.”

The sluggard is more concerned with present comfort than future responsibility. He knows there are expectations and requirements he should be fulfilling for his future, but he is always procrastinating so he can have a good time now. Solomon writes, “Sluggards do not plough in season; so at harvest time they look but find nothing” (Proverbs 20:4). Tomorrow never comes for the sluggard. His future is empty and fruitless because, like a lazy farmer with a barren harvest, he spends no time preparing for it.

Even when the sluggard can be motivated to commence something, he finds it hard to finish. He may be a dreamer with incredible plans and the best of intentions, but he never follows through. The sluggard quickly loses momentum and then drifts away, like someone who reads the first chapter or two of books but never finishes them. Solomon is even harsher, saying, “The lazy person buries his hand in the dish; he will not even bring it back to his mouth!” (Proverbs 19:24).

Without immediate motivation, some of us find it difficult to begin a project or to follow through to completion once we have started.

It is certainly simpler to live in the here and now concerned only with our present need, but this is a foolish way to live. God promises to provide for our needs, but part of that includes not slothfully squandering the work opportunities He gives us. Compensation for our work is often God’s primary means of provision, which only emphasizes how wise it is to develop the self-discipline to commence and complete the work God has for us. 

Prayer: Gracious God, root out the attitude within me that focuses solely on myself in the here and now. Help me follow through on the work opportunities You place before me. Thank You, Lord.

Perceptions

“The way of the sluggard is blocked with thorns, but the path of the upright is a highway.” —Proverbs 15:19

American psychologist Albert Ellis came up with what he called the “ABC’s of our emotions.” His premise is that how we feel is the most important thing about us. He calls “A” the activating event where something happens in our lives. “B” is our beliefs, the filter through which we understand events, which leads to “C,” our consequent emotions. We never go straight from A to C. Events do not cause our emotions because everything we experience is filtered first through our beliefs.

Ellis gives the example of two men caught in a rainstorm. One man is angry while the other is glad, but both blame their emotional state on the rain. The reason is the first man is a golfer, angry his afternoon game has been rained out, while the second is a gardener, glad for the water that will make his plants grow. Ellis’s point was that if we want to adjust our emotions towards something, we need to reconsider our perspective. We cannot change events, but we can adjust our perceptions, which will change how we respond to those events.

The opening verse tells us something similar. Solomon compares how the sluggard and the upright view the same circumstances from difference perspectives. The sluggard focuses on the thorns wherever he goes, the problems or inconveniences that deter him from pursuing anything. For instance, Proverbs 20:4 says, “The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing” (KJV). Because the sluggard is unwilling to face the cold mornings of springtime, his harvest will be poor.

The upright are not ignorant to the thorns, but their focus is on the “highway” and where it leads them. They are willing to put in the work and are prepared to face the difficulties they will encounter along the way because they know their perseverance will pay off. Their optimism keeps them determined, helping them carry on where the sluggard will not even begin.

Better yet is a perspective centred on God. We can easily focus on the thorns when God calls us to join Him in a task. Practical issues like raising funds for missions work can be enough to talk ourselves out of taking a step of faith into what God has called us to. Again, we cannot change our circumstances, only our attitudes towards them.

When we take our eyes off the thorns and focus instead on the God who walks with us, we will find ourselves willing and able to walk the highway, however difficult because we are resting in God’s sufficiency.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, forgive me for when I have let negative attitudes keep me from following through on what You have called me to. Thank You for increasingly aligning my heart and will with Yours. In Your precious name.