It is soooooo easy to be lazy. You know, sleeping later than you should; putting work that you need to get done off until tomorrow; playing video games when you should be working. It is an easy trap to get into. Everyone needs breaks in life. But, for so many people, those breaks in life become the norm. It’s not an occasional sleep in. They sleep too late every morning, and stay up too late every night. They put off homework until the last minute, and then cannot get it all done. The Play Station, computer, or TV sucks up time when he or she should have been working, doing chores, or studying. And before the person knows it, life is caving in on him. And on top of all this, this person gets depressed.
Solomon has told us find an ant hill when we are tempted to be lazy. Have you ever noticed how hard ants work. Somehow they realize that if they are going to survive, the entire colony must survive. No one stands over them, no one has to motivate them. They work on their own, and bring the food back to the nest so food can be stored for the entire colony. The other extreme a slug (hence the word sluggard). A slug does nothing. It lays around until finds something that it can lay on top of and suck the blood out of.
So here is the application. God has designed people to live in society and carry their own weight. By working, and being self-motivated, we can survive and benefit society. But some people would prefer to live life as a slug, doing nothing but sitting around and sucking the life off of others who worked. Other people would prefer to be a “scoundrel and villain”, choosing to steal and cheat rather than work and earn his keep.
This trap gets many people in our culture. The world is filled with people with impeccable character and incredible gift sets who are accomplishing nothing in their lives because they fell into the habits of a sluggard. Internal motivation is low, and they choose a lazy rhythm of life. The next time you feel that temptation to be lazy setting in, take the Bible’s advice and go watch a colony of ants. And remember, God wants to use you, but he can’t use someone who lives live as a slug.
