Proverbs 6:6-11 – Laziness
It is a sign of how low sin has brought us that we are told to learn from animals. The ant has no one to direct her, no one to inspect her, no one to call her to account, but she works hard storing up for her needs. But a lazy man just wants to make life easy for himself in the present moment. His life is wasted and poverty comes upon him. Maybe he twists God’s words to excuse his laziness. He may say that we are not to worry about tomorrow. But God doesn’t say we aren’t to think about tomorrow. God provides and takes care of His people, but He uses means to do so, means like hard work.
But in even greater danger is the spiritually lazy man – the one who takes his salvation for granted and makes no effort to grow in his faith. Despite all the guides of his conscience, the Bible, ministers, and Christian friends, he ignores the things of God and does not think about how he will have to give God an account of what he has done. Being asleep in spiritual things is a sleep of death, and the longer we sleep, the harder it will be to wake up. No one but God can wake up those who are asleep spiritually, and we need to pray daily for the power of God to awaken our friends.
The Christian is warned here as well, against the dangers of laziness in their Christian life. If we say we believe, but can’t be bothered to serve God, do we mean what we say? Laziness is a sin that affects every area of our life and grows in ways we don’t even notice. We must resist it in all areas – bodily, mentally, spiritually, and work hard for God.
Questions
- How might we excuse our laziness?
- Who can wake up a spiritually asleep man? What can we do?
- How can we avoid laziness in our lives?
Prayer Points
- Pray that we would work hard for God.
- Use prayer points from your congregation.
- Pray for family matters.