An Idea Borrowed

Years ago on a radio program someone shared that they read a chapter in Proverbs every day. Since there are 31 chapters and the longest month has 31 days it allows you to read through Proverbs on a regular basis. I use it as the launch pad for my personal worship time and branch out from there. On this blog I will try to share some of the insights I have in the Word. I will try to organize them in the archive by reference.

Thursday, December 19, 2013

The Sedative of Sloth

(Proverbs 19:15 KJV)  Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep; and an idle soul shall suffer hunger.

“Slothfulness” (laziness NASB) (6103) can be hypnotic.  Part of the definition of “deep sleep” (8639) is “trance.”  There is something about doing nothing when things cry out to be done that deadens our mind.  Procrastination bleeds over to our soul, body and spirit.  It is like taking a sleeping pill or, for that matter, eating a gluttonous meal.   On Thanksgiving or Christmas this is something we can roll with but on a regular basis it saps the life out of us.

Laziness is different from rest.  Rest renews and revives.  Sloth deadens and dampens.  Forced sloth can have the same effect.  We have a few people in our church out of work.  I don’t know how they keep going.  They go out and look.  They find nothing.  The temptation is to gear down and quit.  Sloth can creep up on us.

So?  Avoid it yourself but it might be a good time with the economy being the way it is to target some others in prayer and active encouragement.  Find a way to help a discouraged brother fight the temptation of slothful discouragement. 

2 comments:

Gorges Smythe said...

Sad but true. After several years of sitting at work and a year looking for work, I feel like all the energy has been drained out of me.

Pumice said...

From your recent post you might be on the trail of something. You have my prayers. I guess you can be thankful that you don't have young kids at home to support.

Grace and peace.