Anyone ever felt lazy? We call it by many names today. Some call it apathy, slothfulness, despair, or procrastination. Whatever you decide to call it, it is the sin that:
Sounds like an exciting life, doesn’t it?
A person who is slothful or lazy is a person who has given up on trying. They say things like “what’s the use? I tried and it didn’t work out so I quit. I give up. It’s too hard.” They become convinced they don’t have what it takes to make a difference so they stop trying. It is the sin of unreached potential.
Laziness will ruin every aspect of a person’s life. Let me show you what I mean.
LAZINESS WILL DESTROY OUR RELATIONSHIPS
If you don’t put forth effort at home, if all you do is sit around and eat the food that your mom and dad provided for you, if all you do is play video games or stream shows on TV, if all you do is consume yourself with social media and texting your friends you will never have the relationship with your family that deep down inside you really want to have.
When we would rather ignore what our parents need from us because the couch is so comfortable, we are not only hurting our parents but we are hurting ourselves as well. When you refuse to chip in or you refuse to ask how you can help out around the house, you are not only hurting your parents but you are hurting yourself as well.
And that lazy attitude of
All those phrases boil down to the fact that we don’t want to do the hard work to love that person deeply.
I know students that won’t talk to their parents. They grunt at them or give them one-word answers to their questions but then they expect their mom and dad to fulfill all their needs and all their wants.
If you treat your parents like that, there will be a day you will regret it. You will look back on your life and wonder why was I such a jerk? Why did I treat them so badly? And all the conversations you could have had but didn’t; there will be a day that they won’t be around anymore and I promise you that on that day you will wish that you could talk to them. You will wish that you could gain just one more insight from them. Or maybe we’ll realize:
LAZINESS DESTROYS US SPIRITUALLY.
Why is it that so many people feel a distance between them and God? Have you ever said, “I don’t have time to pray? I don’t have time to read my Bible? I don’t have time to serve God?”
Don’t raise your hand but I wonder how many of us are just going through the motions spiritually speaking. We sit here week after week as a spectator and we say to ourselves over and over again, “I ought to change my ways. I need to do something about what I heard today” but nothing changes.
We never get around to joining that small group. We never get around to reading just a chapter of the Bible each day. We never get around to spending some time in prayer. We never get around to telling anyone about Jesus. We never get around to making ourselves available to be used by God to help someone else along the way.
We have couches to sleep on and video games to play. We have pictures to post and selfies to take. If that describes you let me give you a piece of advice. You need to stop and realize that your laziness toward God is slowly killing your soul and that distance you feel with you and God will only grow farther and farther apart.
How do we break free from this piece of Kryptonite? How do we break free from the sin of laziness?
That word repent means to change your ways. Wake up and start living your life for the Lord. Start loving and engaging with the people that God has placed in your life and start asking God what you can do for him today to make a difference with your life.
The Bible says, “Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins." James 4:17
Confess it to God and repent.
Repent and tell him you’re tired of having each day blur into the next and into the next. Ask him to give you the ability to see each and every new day as an opportunity to love Him, love others and to make a difference.
Force yourself to give your very best in every aspect of your life and if you do that you will have a deep relationship with God. This goes back to one of our core values here at Remix. Jesus gave us His best, so we should daily give our best back to Him. When you do this, you will be closer to God than you have ever been before because you are doing what it takes to get to know God personally.
If you give your best at home, you will have a better home situation than ever before. Your parents will stop nagging you to do something with your life and you will get the chance to really get to know each other and love each other and help each other.
If you push through at school and give your very best you will make better grades than you have ever made before. You will have better friendships too.
If you give your best in every area of your life your life will get better.
Colossians 3:17 says, “Whatever you do in word or deed do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”
Do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus. What does that phrase mean? It means we live this one shot we have at life like Jesus would live it.
Imagine the difference if we did life the way Jesus did life. This would change everything.
Think about this. Jesus never did anything halfway. He didn’t heal halfway, he didn’t give half way, he didn’t love halfway, he didn’t serve half way, he didn’t live halfway and he didn’t die halfway. Jesus went all the way. He gave it all and he expects us to do the same.
Alexander the Great, one of the greatest military generals who ever lived, conquered almost the entire known world. One night during a campaign, he couldn’t sleep and he left his tent to walk around the campgrounds.
As he was walking, he came across a soldier asleep on guard duty. The penalty for falling asleep on guard duty was, in some cases, instant death; the commanding officer sometimes poured kerosene on the sleeping soldier and lit it.
The soldier began to wake up as Alexander the Great approached him. Recognizing who was standing in front of him, the young man feared for his life. Alexander the Great asked the soldier, “Do you know what the penalty is for falling asleep on guard duty?”
“Yes, sir,” he said. Alexander the great demanded, “Soldier, what’s your name?” The soldier said, “Alexander, sir.” Alexander the Great repeated the question: “What is your name?” The soldier said again, “My name is Alexander, sir.” A third time Alexander the Great asked, “What is your name?” And a third time the soldier said, “My name is Alexander, sir.”
Alexander the Great then looked the young soldier straight in the eye. “Soldier either change your name or change your conduct.”
God wants our best because He gave us His best.
Ephesians 2:10 says, “You are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for you to do.
Your life matters to him. Your worship matters to him. Your family matters to him. How you spend your time matters to him.
Here is the truth. The person your laziness affects the most is yourself. You have so much potential. God has created you with gifts, talents, and passions that you haven't even discovered yet. Every day that you waste doing nothing about it, you are short changing yourself. You are wasting your own time and your own opportunities. We don’t want to wait 10 years to decide to do something worthwhile with our lives. Right now there are things we can do to grow and learn and make an impact.
So here is your homework should you choose to accept it. Choose one habit that you need to pick up starting today. One thing that can make you 1% better, 1% more productive, 1% closer to God. Maybe it’s reading a few verses of scripture every day, maybe it’s praying, maybe it’s doing the dishes, maybe for you high schoolers it’s working toward getting a job or an internship. One thing a lot of us could benefit from is committing to the habit of getting your homework done every night. Don’t put it off or turn in a half way done assignment, but put in the work every day and see how much that improves your standing at school. Pick one habit and start today. There are so many small things we can do to help us get a little bit closer to giving our best. And that’s what we are going for. No more wasting our lives, let’s live differently.
God has given us the opportunity to become something remarkable, something difference making, something unique; something that stands out in the world. Live the life God has called you to live and don’t you let laziness get the best of you.
©2024 Sagebrush Church
