Monday, April 25, 2011

Laziness...

Do you enjoy being lazy? What is your definition of lazy? Is it wrong to be lazy? Do you know anyone who is lazy? What is your work ethic like? Do you do the best you can in your job, or do you do just enough to get by? Do you put forth your full effort when doing a task, or do you go after it halfheartedly?

Definition of Lazy: *
1. Resistant to work or exertion; disposed to idleness.
2. Slow-moving; sluggish: a lazy river.
3. Conducive to idleness or indolence: a lazy summer day.

The book of Proverbs has a lot to say about the lazy man (sluggard), so I will list a few of the verses from Proverbs, but not all of them. (I will put some extra references at the end of the post.) I also chose the New Living Translation for most of the text this week (I love how straight forward it is), so I encourage you to look the verses up in your favorite translation!

Scriptures for this week:

Proverbs 10:4, "
Lazy people are soon poor; hard workers get rich." (NLT)
Proverbs 13:4, "Lazy people want much but get little, but those who work hard will prosper." (NLT)

You can't make money being lazy. (or at least you shouldn't be able to...)

Proverbs 10:26, "Lazy people irritate their employers, like vinegar to the teeth or smoke in the eyes." (NLT)

It is so annoying to me as a fellow employee to work really hard to accomplish something (like meet goals that are set for you), but others who don't meet the goals and don't even try to accomplish much at all get the same raise as I do. Or I don't get as good a raise because everyone else didn't meet the goals set for them. So I can only imagine how irritating it could be to watch someone you hired not try, or be lazy!

Proverbs 12:11, "A hard worker has plenty of food, but a person who chases fantasies has no sense." (NLT)

If you don't work you don't eat!

Proverbs 18:9, "A lazy person is as bad as someone who destroys things." (NLT)

And you can destroy things by being lazy/neglecting them. Most things worth having in life take hard work to obtain or keep them.

Proverbs 26:15, "Lazy people take food in their hand but don't even lift it to their mouth." (NLT)

You know that toilet seat your mother or wife asked you to put down, or the make-up that is all over the bathroom sink that your husband has asked you to clean up... it only takes a couple seconds... What is stopping you?

Proverbs 24:30-34, "I went past the field of the sluggard, past the vineyard of the man who lacks judgment; 31thorns had come up everywhere, the ground was covered with weeds, and the stone wall was in ruins. 32I applied my heart to what I observed and learned a lesson from what I saw: 33A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest—34and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man. (NIV)

Is this what your room or house looks like? Is there an inch or two of dust on everything? Do you spend your days off just lying on the couch watching TV or playing video games??? Get up and do something productive!

Romans 12:11, "Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically." (NLT)

Do everything as unto the Lord. This should be how you look at your work whether for your boss, spouse, parents, whoever... We should have a servant's attitude. Jesus came to serve, not to be served. (John 13:12-14)

Colossians 3:17, "And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father." (NLT)

Someone asks, "How are you today?" You reply, "I'm Blessed how about yourself?" (I encourage you to make this your response for a week or two; you may be surprised at the reactions you get!)

Extra verses for this week's topic:
Proverbs 12:27
Proverbs 15:9
Proverbs 20:4
Proverbs 26:14
Proverbs 28:19
Ecclesiastes 10:18
Matthew 25:14-28 (parable of the Talents)
Hebrews 6:12

Blessings
~ S*
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*Definition taken from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/lazy

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