“As vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so are sluggards to those who send them.”
I’m always intrigued when back to back days the same issue is discussed by Solomon. Yesterday we talked a bit about a sluggard. Here it is again. Obviously he doesn’t have very positive things to say about them. The Gospel Coalition gives 8 marks of a sluggard. I can’t review them all in this short devotion but as I read through them I was struck not only by what a sad and essentially useless person they were but also what an awful employee they make. A few of the points are that they neither start nor finish things. They don’t face hard things and are constantly causing trouble. They are self deceived and finally they will never become a leader. Thats a pretty sad list. I’m sure any one of them would keep them off a recruiters list. I’m kind of wondering about Solomon’s statement and why anyone would send them to represent or carry out a task in the first place. It seems doomed to failure. The first point he makes is that they are not only a disappointment, they are also very annoying and frustrating. Dr. Derek Brown writes, “The good news of salvation apart from works motivates us to labor diligently in this brief life on earth for the glory of God, the good of others, and our own benefit. And the energizing Spirit of Christ compels us to sharpen our God-given skills so we might be useful to our King and to our fellow man, to courageously face and complete difficult tasks, and to avoid the unnecessary trouble of laziness.” That is good news. I have a tendency at about 3 in the afternoon to want to shut down and become a bit of a vegetable. God’s Spirit and His call motivate me to stay in the race. Today look for places of temptation to shut down and ask God to let you know if it’s time for rest or time to keep working. #BeTheEdge
“We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, so that what you hope for may be fully realized.” Hebrews 6:11 NIV
