The sluggard buries his hand in the dish and will not even bring it back to his mouth.
Not doing something is, as a rule, the easiest thing in the world. It requires literally no effort; it takes literally no energy. But laziness is so much more than doing nothing; it’s also doing something halfway or laggardly. It includes even doing a whole lot, so long as that ‘whole lot’ is the wrong thing. Mankind has made a profession of sloth, and we’re good at it. God refuses us that luxury (Col. 3:23).
The sin of sloth, strictly understood, is refusal to do what we ought because it’s too hard (Rom. 12:11). Our motivation turns out to be less than suited to its task, and so we turn from righteousness. Righteousness, after all, is hard work. Genesis 3:17-19 is fairly clear about that: “… cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread….”
God does not call us to till an easy furrow. Persecution is an easy example of what a Christian faces (John 15:18; Acts 5), but the disincentives start so much closer to home. We house in ourselves as many idols as we can make; we desire just about anything that isn’t God. In pagan men, this desire is leashed only by His mercy and only for a time. It will in the end destroy the man God lets it loose upon (Rom. 1:20-32).
The Christian is given a different course. God gives us a new heart (John 3:5-7), a new awareness of His law (Jer. 31:33), and thus a new motivation: to love Him completely (1 John 1-2). But, being still in this flesh, still incompletely made holy, we still have those desires against God, those evil appetites. These desires we are called to destroy. We are told by God that we must put to death these parts of ourselves (Rom. 8:13), the poison we have fostered in ourselves.
That process hurts.
Sloth is an easy sin. It’s in the premise: just do the easy thing. That easy thing may be lying back and rotting. It may be diving into entertainments. Certainly men have done both across history, even up to today, and typically the strategy is a mix of the two. On a physical level, after all, it takes some practice to stay in one place indefinitely, and quick pleasures are, well, quick. A constant stream is ever so appealing (I too have gotten caught by a long line of short videos, scrolling, scrolling). But we human beings are even more ingenious than this merely sybarite engagement: we make even hard work into sloth.
Sloth, remember, is doing the easy thing despite it not being the right thing. Easy is comparative, though. Tireless labor is exhausting; constant work to obey a personal code can be tiring in the extreme. But they’re both easier, in the short term, except by God’s aid (Is. 26:12), than mortifying—killing—our sin. Whether it’s diligence without ceasing (in doing what would be good if it were for God’s glory, but which the foundational sin turns to ash (Hag. 2:10-19)) or following a code of man’s devising (exacting in the extreme, but never requiring the complete obedience which man will not give, on this earth, being not yet single-hearted, a code more thoroughly destructive because it is not God’s law, our only right guide (Ps. 119)), whatever it is, these things are easier than the rigor of sanctification.
So we all are slothful at times. We all slack from the righteousness we ought to love (John 14:15). For His people, however, Christ came to die, for the sinner (Matt. 9:13). He gives us His righteousness, and then He transforms us into His image (Rom. 8:29), truly holy (John 17:19). Thus, He forgives us our trespasses; thus, He strengthens us to turn from them ever more; thus, He will at last complete our hallowing, that we, who believe in Him by His grace, may rejoice in His glory and His love.
God bless.
Sanctuary Functional Medicine, under the direction of Dr Eric Potter, IFMCP MD, provides functional medicine services to Nashville, Middle Tennessee and beyond. We frequently treat patients from Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, and more... offering the hope of healthier more abundant lives to those with chronic illness.
Colson Potter writes copious fiction and nonfiction, including a weekly Proverbs post and his blog at Creational Story.
