A New Name

(Proverbs 20:4 KJV)  The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing.

I love this word “sluggard” (6102).  Maybe I like it because my wife has never thought to use it on me.  I have been lazy.  My motivation is often hard to find.  Even my eternal salvation has been questioned but I have never been called a sluggard.  Give it time.

It must be an issue.  The word is used fourteen times in Proverbs.  As I look over the ways it is applied I can sometimes see myself but usually not.  If I don’t “plow” (2790a) after the leaves fall it isn’t because I am lazy.  It is because I am a city boy and it would never occur to me to do such a thing. 

How many things are there that I should be doing that never occur to me?  This is a serious issue and not just because my wife says so.  It can be simple things like saying “Thank you” or more complex like writing a letter to my congressman.  It is an area of life that I need to take seriously.

So?  It is still early in the year.  There are still many opportunities for me to miss.  I pray that God will open my eyes and motivate my heart to see the possibilities before me.