Wednesday, November 9, 2022
“Laziness leads to
a sagging roof; idleness leads to a leaky house.” (Ecclesiastes 10:18 New Living Translation)
I am becoming aware that my legs
may be stumbling into a state of atrophy. I have never been exactly adroit or
nimble on my feet. Nobody has ever called me twinkle-toes. But, since retirement,
seven years ago, I have sat in my big, comfy, blue recliner and moved as little
as possible, it seems. Covid made it worse. Certainly, I don’t exercise. Our dog,
Charlie, is too old to walk anymore; he is as prone to stumbles and slips as I
am. I have fallen a couple of times because my legs don’t react as fast as my brain
tells them to. I trip over my own two feet. Once I am down, it is laborious to
try and get back up as my legs don’t seem strong enough. At my “young” age, it
is a little embarrassing, to be honest.
I know that I should do some
walking to strengthen my leg muscles. But laziness, thy name is Dale.
Idleness gets a rough reputation
in scriptures. “Fools fold their idle hands, leading them to ruin.” (Ecclesiastes
4:5, NLT) My mother always said that idle hands are the devil’s tools.
The apostle Paul would agree. “Don’t you remember the rule we had
when we lived with you? ‘If you don’t work, you don’t eat.’ And now we’re
getting reports that a bunch of lazy good-for-nothings are taking advantage of
you. This must not be tolerated. We command them to get to work immediately—no
excuses, no arguments—and earn their own keep. Friends, don’t slack off in
doing your duty.” (2 Thessalonians
3: 11-13, The Message Bible)
Now there is nothing wrong or sinful in spending leisure time, resting, relaxing,
having some down time, or just plain goofing off occasionally. We need spiritual,
physical, mental refreshment and restoration of mind, body and soul. Workaholism
can become a curse when it replaces family relationships, saps or drains one’s
humanity and becomes the be all and end all to living.
But idleness is a dangerous pool to drown in – especially in the area of
Christian discipleship.
We need continuously to practice and exercise the core muscles of
Christian behaviour. “This will continue until we all come to such unity in
our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord,
measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:13, NLT)
If we become apathetic, indifferent, close-hearted, unmindful, ignorant,
careless, thoughtless about our faith, our relationship with Jesus Christ and
therefore about our relationships with others, that faith begins indeed to
atrophy and becomes weak and we stumble around trying to gain our balance, especially
in a world that throws up obstacles and barriers.
Therefore, or instead, Paul reminds us of the stuff we are made
and the work that this implies. “And I am certain that God, who began the
good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on
the day when Christ Jesus returns.” (Philippians 1:6, NLT)
Our Ecclesiastes text, above, reminds me a little of Jesus’ parable of the
men who built their houses on different foundations.
“These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life,
homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words,
words to build a life on. If you work these words into your life, you are like
a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock. Rain poured down, the
river flooded, a tornado hit—but nothing moved that house. It was fixed to the
rock. But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don’t work them into
your life, you are like a stupid carpenter who built his house on the sandy
beach. When a storm rolled in and the waves came up, it collapsed like a house
of cards.” (Matthew 7: 24 -27,
The Message Bible)
Let us get up off our back-sides and put our faith to work.
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