Maybe Tomorrow...

Prov 6:9 How long will you slumber, O sluggard? When will you rise from your sleep? 10 A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to sleep— 11 So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler, And your need like an armed man.


(Sorry about yesterday, I don't think I had a minute to sit...I owe God Prov 5)

"I don't feel like it." Something I utter more than I really want to, or do I? See the man in me wants to basically do nothing all day. If it were up to me, I would sit in bed and sleep all day not doing a thing, but I can't. I can't just sit and let the day waste, not just because there are consequences with regard to my ability to live, but because when one reads the story in Matt 25 of the three men given their fair share of talents and how the master goes and deals with them, it becomes clear that God is not in the business of liking laziness.

Verse 10 spells out how it works with us. It all starts with a little sleep here, then it goes from sleep to slumber, then it goes to us just flat out folding out hands and refusing to do anything. It all starts with a little compromise here, a little compromise there, and before you know it, your life is wasting. When I lost my job that month and a half, I could have easily slipped into this. In fact I did for almost 2 weeks. I remember people asking me if I had applied, of course I would say I did, but in reality, no. I would lay in bed and sleep until my little heart desired to wake up. I really didn't care much for working.

God didn't make us to be lazy, He didn't make us to do nothing. I am often reminded of the story in Joshua 5-6, specifically where the Commander of the Armies of the Lord (aka Jesus in the Old Testament, also known as a Christophany) appears before Joshua and lets him know, "I am totally with you!" Now, could you imagine what would have happened if Joshua would have sat down and done nothing from there. Imagine if he had had the "God is going to do it, therefore I don't have to do much" attitude? The providence of God favors not the idle. God is not a fan of idleness, He wants us to use those things, those talents which He has given us for His glory. So often we all get lazy, and maybe in the sense of physical work, but in the area of spiritual work. I can work 60 hours a week for the next two months and still be the laziest person on the planet.

Our minds are often stuck in the temporal that we often miss out on the eternal reality going on around us. There are always two sides to the same coin, there is of course the present consequence, but there is always an eternal consequence to a thing as well. Though we may not see it or believe it, there is. It isn't just about working for a paycheck, it could be about working to show a boss what God can do in the life of a person. It isn't just about obeying your parents because they are your parents, it could be the only witness they have to what Christ has done in the life of their child. It isn't just about cleaning your room, it could be your sibling seeing how responsible you have become and wondering what is it that has changed.

Look for the eternal in everything and don't be so lazy. Laziness comes from many avenues of which disqualification, despair, discouragement are a few. Look for the eternal in what you do, it may be what keeps you going in those moments when even that paycheck doesn't look for appealing.

"We should pray as though everything depends on God and work as though everything depends on us. Praying for the Lord to guide your footsteps will be ineffective unless you are willing to move your feet!" - St. Augustine