the Bible consistently addresses the issue of laziness with a critical tone especially within the old testament's wisdom literature and the new testament's teachings Proverbs frequently castigates the sluggard and uses the diligent ant as a metaphor for the virtue of hard work cautioning against the poverty and lack that come from idleness the consequences of laziness are not just material but also moral as the Bible suggests that a lack of diligence can lead to an unfulfilled potential IAL and neglected responsibilities in the New Testament Jesus's parable of the talents serves as an admonition against sloth illustrating the
importance of employing one's gifts and time wisely similarly Paul's Epistles reinforce this ethos notably in 2 Thessalonians 3:10 which bluntly states that those unwilling to work should not eat thereby affirming a robust work ethic as an expression of Faith the biblical critique of laziness applies to all there's a pronounced focus on men men are not to be lazy the biblical archetype of a Christian man is anchored in the virtues of diligence and industriousness the portrait painted by scripture is one where Christian men are Dynamic and active participants in their faith their families and their communities
the teachings of the Bible go beyond mere rebuke of laziness they establish an expectation that a man's faith is intrinsic linked to his work ethic this connection between belief and labor underscores a broader spiritual principle that faith is demonstrated through action the ideal Christian man therefore is not one who is Idle or content with mediocrity but is instead consistently engaged in meaningful work contributing to the welfare of those around him and fulfilling his Divine mandate furthermore the Proverbs Slugger is not a representation of the Christian man instead Christian men are called to model themselves after
the industrious ant tirelessly working not just for personal gain but in service to a greater good the New Testament strengthens this call to action portraying Jesus himself as a figure of ceaseless service and Paul as an apostle who labored with his hands in this light to be a Christian man is to be the antithesis of lazy it is to be energetically involved in the labor of Life ensuring that faith is lived out in the everyday acts of work charity and stewardship this active approach to Faith ensures that a Christian man's life is marked by productivity
and purpose honoring the God who calls all believers to a life of fruitful engagement with the world God has expectations for a Christian and one of the many expectations for a Christian man is to provide for his own family 1 Timothy 58 anyone who does not provide for their Rel relatives and especially for their own household has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever in other words those who can provide for their families are obligated to do so if we read all of 1 Timothy 5 we see that Paul is mainly speaking about
caring for women who are truly widows meaning those who have no children to rely on for assistance although this chapter also speaks about the relatives in a man's household the main focus is about widows however today rather than focusing on widows we are going to focus on relatives in a man's household before we proceed it is important to note that the Apostle Paul in this chapter states that a true Widow who needs financial assistance from the church is one who has no children or grandchildren the reason being is that if a widow has children or
grandchildren it is their obligation to look after the widows in their family whe whether it is monetarily or anything else they may require this is not a command for anyone to provide for relatives who are supposed to be providing for themselves as this would make you an enabler of the sin of slothfulness also known as laziness but rather this is a command to look after those who are truly in need family is the first line of care as a result this will free up resources of the local church for those with no family support I.E
children or grandchildren to support them God made us to work and to provide for ourselves and those in our household even unbelievers do this Paul intentionally called a Christian who doesn't look after his own worse than an unbeliever intentionally this is a purposeful provoking statement to highlight a person cannot call themselves a Christian man whilst being cold and uncaring towards the members of his own household this is not referring to a person who cannot look after his own for reasons outside of his own control for example health reasons no this is directed to a man
who is intentionally not looking after his own responsibilities God calls men to look after their responsibilities God calls men to honor their commitments God calls men to have a sense of Duty and Ladies If you have a husband who goes to work and comes home and pays this bill and pays that Bill thank God for him a Christian man is not a lazy man in our world today we are quick to judge sins like drunkenness we are quick to judge adulterers fornicators and thieves but very rarely do you hear a sermon against laziness and this
is not applicable to all men because there are men who are on the other side of the spectrum who work too much and do not have time for leisure and rest and that itself presents issues do not work yourself self to an early grave rest is a necessity however that is a message for another day today we are focusing on laziness nobody talks about slothfulness anymore the Bible does not encourage slothfulness look at our Lord Jesus Christ he was motivated and active whilst he was on this Earth John 94 I must work the works of
him that sent me while it is day the night cometh when no man can work Luke 2:49 and he said to them why did you seek me did you not know that I must be about my father's business slothfulness is the opposite of being hardworking sloth is when you have something that you've got to do or something that you should be doing but you don't do it because of the physical effort that is required to do it hard work and dedication hard work and dedication do it it if you feel like it do it if
you don't feel like it do it laziness this is something that is seldomly preached nowadays in our microwave generation hard work and dedication is becoming a dying principle people look at the task at hand and say I can't be bothered or they start the task and after a while they say that will do or that's enough every time you hear those three words that will do or or that's enough you are in the presence of a slothful person God does not tolerate laziness the lazier you become the weaker you become laziness is a cycle it
is a hole that will drag you deeper and deeper and deeper there is a tremendous amount of hardworking men who don't sleep enough who need to sleep more often but there are some men who make sleeping the objective of their day apart from the time of relax relaxing resting or taking a nap as a result of tiredness too much sleeping makes you weak and too much sleeping is caused by laziness the Bible talked against sleeping too much because it will result in poverty Proverbs 2433 and 34 yet a little sleep a little Slumber a little
folding of the hands to sleep so shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth and thy want as an armed man this is how a lazy man rationalizes his neglect of Duty a little sleep causes no harm surely we all need a little Slumber the problem isn't the sleep of the lazy man it is his neglect of Duty sleep was created by God but God did not create sleep for you to neglect your responsibilities I remember my football coach used to have a saying and it has stuck with me till this day he used to
say treat laziness like the disease it is if you have a family to look after look after them if you have children to feed do it thank God for fathers real fathers fathers that look after their own fundamentally God hates laziness it is a sin how is laziness a sin James 4:17 therefore to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not to him it is sin this is simp Le to understand if there are things you ought to do and refuse to do them because of laziness there is no other word for it
but sin this is not about judging you this is about the Bible talking about being lazy and not doing the right thing Jesus called people like this wicked laziness is also wickedness laziness is also wickedness anyone who is called wicked in the Bible is referred to as the en of God from the parable of Jesus about the three servants who were given money to invest by their Master the first who received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more the second was given two bags of
gold and he worked and gained two more the third servant one we can call Lazy because of his inability to work he knew what he should do with the gold he knew what was right but he refused to do it and that is a sin according to the Bible God does not look kindly towards laziness but our society somewhat encourages it this is against the will of God laziness travels into different areas of your life everything affects everything else you can't be lazy in this area and hardworking in another no laziness contaminates other areas of
your life fundamentally men of God are not lazy God calls men to look after their responsibility God calls men to honor their commitments God calls men to have a sense of Duty
