Today we're going to talk about one of my favorite categories regarding foolishness.

Let's read from Proverbs 6:6;
“Go to the ant, O sluggard;
consider her ways, and be wise. 
Without having any chief officer, or ruler, 
she prepares her bread in summer
and gathers her food and harvest. 
How long will you lie there? Oh sluggard?
When will you arise from your sleep? 
A little sleep, a little slumber, 
a little folding of the hands to rest,
and poverty will come upon you like a robber,
and want like an armed man."

This is a really important category of foolishness, probably one of my favorites. It's the Hebrew word atsel. Bruce Wilkie notes this in his commentary that the origin of the word atsel has to do literally with being fat or thick. As we read from Proverbs, it's the person who consistently makes excuses. A little nap here, a little rest there. A day off here, a day off there. A  little bit of work, sit back and rest, enjoy and take it easy. But then when difficulty comes they are stuck. Derek Kidner wrote this in his commentary: “The sluggard deceives himself by the smallness of his surrender. Inches by inches and minutes by minutes, his opportunity slips away.”

Being a sluggard doesn't mean constantly taking naps. We're not talking about the person who's a lazy person on the couch. Being a sluggard is apathy toward life, especially towards spiritual life. We're talking about the person who's unmotivated in their spiritual life. 

What ways are we lazy when it comes to the reality of our faith? What should strike some people are the excuses that they make to not be involved in church. The kids are too busy. My job is too much. I’m really tired and need a day to sleep in. In this time period of solitude and isolation that's upon us right now, I think some people will realize that they don't have much motivation to be connected with the church at all. In many ways, this situation should tell people that what's leaking out of their heart is a sluggishness toward faith and the life of the soul. It is laziness and foolishness, and it leads to a very flimsy kind of hope in their life. 

The same is true for people who simply see this as a time to stay at home and consume more and more entertainment. Or for those who are quick to tell other people to put aside bad feelings and focus on being happy with what they’ve got right now. That’s a lazy response that is code for “I don't want to understand what you're feeling so let me brush it aside and hopefully you’ll let us get on with our lives now.” 

Here’s something else the sluggard does. They use humor to deflect real emotion or real problems. In their complacency, they don't want to have to deal with the reality of what's really going on. That humor or sarcasm is way to keep their own or other people’s needs at bay.

Let me ask you some evaluative questions:

• Have you put your spiritual life on hold because of the busyness of life? Or you putting off something spiritually because you're looking for the right time or the balanced Christian life? The truth of the matter is that there is no such thing as the balanced Christian life. It's an illusion. None of us have achieved balance in our life. Life is full of tensions, and those are a good gift from God. When he's at the center, then we can approach these tensions in the right kind of way. 

• Secondly, ask yourself, are you lazy relationally? Do you ever say, Well, that's just the way that I am. Character is becoming the right kind of person who lives the right kind of way. The way that God has intended life to be lived. So how are you looking more like Jesus? 

• And finally, how grateful are you? Lazy people are not grateful because they take everything for granted. 

Let me pray for you that today that you would be the kind of person who would lean intentionally into your spiritual life.

Prayer for Today

Father, today we recognize that the gospel is an active call. Just as Jesus leaned into the difficult thing that he had to do to go to a cross to die for us. We have to have the same courage to lean into our Christian life in small ways and in big ways. Give us the courage to not to be complacent but instead to be active because we have an active heart. We asked this in Jesus name, amen.