Say No to Slothfulness

What does it mean to be slothful? The quality or state of being lazy, indolent; a disinclination to work or exert one’s self. This word slothful comes from the Greek word “nothros” no-thros' ; sluggish, that is, (literally) lazy, or (figuratively):—dull, slothful. (Dim, thick, dense, slow, brainless) - (The Curse of the Slothful By Elder Redwood)

How do you know that you are lazy? 

Answer the following questions with a 'Yes' or 'No'.

1.                  Do you intentionally avoid work?

2.                  Do you avoid pressure in your life?

3.                  Do you find every job or task you are given a struggle?

4.                  Do you tend to leave tasks incomplete or unfinished?

5.                  Do you neglect house repairs?

6.                  Do you neglect your hygiene?

7.                  Do you sleep ten or more hours a day?

8.                  Do you have a life filled with wishful thinking, but do little to make it happen?

9.                  Do you make excuses for your lethargy?

10.             Is your life filled with a series of easy choices?

If up to 50% of your answers were 'Yes', then you are becoming very lazy; if up to 70% is 'Yes', you need counselling; but if more than 70% of your answers were 'Yes', then you need DELIVERANCE!!!

What causes laziness (or slothfulness)? Here are just a few explanations:

1.                  Fear

2.                  Frustration

3.                  Lack of control (or perceived lack of control)

4.                  Past learned behavior or conditioning (yes, laziness can be learned)

5.                  Mis-alignment between goals and beliefs or values

6.                  Lack of purpose

Of all these factors, fear is perhaps one of the most common causes of laziness.

Laziness is the biggest enemy of life. If you are lazy then you will not acquire any significant position in your life and will always remain confused. Laziness is such a disease which slowly steals everything from us. The biggest attribute of laziness is that we don't understand its ill-effects on the right time, and afterwards we can only regret.

Laziness not only leads to mental disorders but it also affect our body and health. Due to this habit, the blood does not circulate properly in our body and this leads to decrease in the quantity of pure blood in our body. If the body parts do not get the pure blood, they become less efficient and the energy level of the person becomes down. For proper blood circulation we should have an active and energetic body. By getting pure and well oxygenated blood all the body parts will remain healthy.

The brains of lazy persons do not function properly. They have a weak memory. They take much time to answer any question. Sometimes, they don't even understand the question, thus, become unable to answer them. To become intelligent, skillful and efficient, we should quit laziness first.

What does the Bible Say About Slothfulness?

1.             Proverbs 12:24, “The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: but the slothful shall be under tribute”. 

Slothful here comes from the Hebrew word “remiyah” pronounced rem-ee-yaw' and means; remissness, treachery:—deceit (-ful, -fully), false, guile, idle, slack, meaning that a slothful person is deceitful; he is one that bears false witness, that’s filled with guile and hypocrisy. Here is a person that is trying to live a privileged life but because of his deceitfulness, because he wants to acquire his gains falsely, he will continually fail at life until he learns that righteousness must be a way of life. The other meaning of slothful is the word remissness from the word, “remiss” which means, to be careless, negligent, lax, inattentive, and to be inconsistent.

2.                  Proverbs 12:27, “The slothful (remiyah) man roasteth not that which he took in hunting: but the substance of a diligent man is precious.” 

The slothful man is one who,
a) Fails to realize the advantages of God’s divine plan for him
b) He takes no comfort in what God has provided
c) He is plagued by apprehensiveness, always concerned by his own unfettered emotions.

3.                  Another Hebrew word is “astel” found in Proverb 15:19 says, “The way of the slothful (atsel) man is as a hedge of thorns... (because of his indolence and sluggard attitude)". 

The word 'indolent' means laid-back, lethargic, sluggish, idle;

• His un-renewed mind imagines ten thousand difficulties in the way which cannot be surmounted

• All are the creations of his own imagination, and that imagination is formed by his slothfulness

4.                  Proverbs 18:9, “A slothful man neglects his work, and the materials go to ruin: the “brother”, he destroys the materials.” 

In this case it comes from the word raphah, raw-faw'. A primitive root; to slacken (in many applications, literally or figuratively):—abate, cease, consume, draw [toward evening], fail, (be) faint, be (wax) feeble, forsake, idle, leave, let alone (go, down), (be) slack, stay, be still, be slothful, (be) weak (-en). Some of us are thinking about slackening our hands from what the Lord has called us to do. Maybe because of provocation, distress or distractions of the world system but God says, “Don’t be slothful, is it not the time of harvesting, is it not time for the collection of your rewards"! (The Curse of the Slothful By Elder Redwood)

• Lazy man falls prey to poverty:

Ridiculously indolent and lover of sleep, the lazy man sees lions all over the street(overestimating the difficulty of getting a job or working); his desires ″kill″ him because ″his hands refuse to labour″, and his path becomes a ″hedge of thorns″ ... while he is wiser than seven sensible men in his own eyes. .... His household becomes a real ruin and he falls prey to his ″want″(scarcity) coming like an armed man and in the end to poverty, coming upon him like a robber. The sluggard (lazy man) will share this fate with the talkative persons, with dreamers that ″watch the wind″ or ″regard the clouds″ and with those who ″chase fantasies″ (follow worthless pursuits). (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Ways to Overcome Slothfulness (Laziness):

1.                  If you have been overcome by a habitual fault of laziness, admit it, go down on your knees and thank God (no. 1), then ask Him for forgiveness (no. 2), and the grace to turn a new leaf (no. 3).

2.                  Get up and get out (out of the bed, or the chair, or the house....whichever). Go for a walk. Drive out. Visit friends. Anything to get you out of the house. While absorbing some sunshine, ask God for inspiration to DO SOMETHING.

3.                  Run errands. List out the things that need to be done (paying bills - PHCN, Water, vehicle licence, shopping, laundry, etc). Running some errands will not only get you moving, but it will inject in you a real sense of urgency and need. If you don't get these things done now, you'll have to do them eventually.

4.                  Keep a positive journal. Make a list, everyday, of ten things that you are good at, things that inspire you (people, places or things: anything that inspires you), things that you see yourself doing in ten years, ten months, ten days, ten hours, even ten minutes! The idea is to create a positive flow of thoughts and feelings that keep your confidence up. These things will remind you that you have reasons to remain confident and keep you from gravitating towards laziness.

5.                  Listen to some music. Listen to music that inspires you and makes you feel good. They can rev up some much-needed energy! Go ahead and dance too.

6.                  Drink LOTS of water. Keeping yourself well hydrated will keep you energized and awake and will give your body some much-needed fuel. Caffeine, while a quick energy boost, will ultimately dehydrate you, which will not only not help you, but it may also give you more issues like headaches and sudden drop in energy.

7.                  Surround yourself with motivating people. Sometimes family and friends know exactly what to say to get you going. Let them. When life hits us with abrupt changes, or even when it just teases us with quirky little annoyances, it can be easier for us to fall victims to our own self-doubt and laziness. The key is to have a plan of action so that we don't succumb to those self-defeating vices.

(Peter Murphy is a peak performance expert)

Quotes of the Week!

1.                  "A busy mother makes slothful daughters" (Portuguese Proverb)

2.                  "The desire of the slothful killeth him: for his hands refuse to labour" (Prov. 21:25)

3.                  "As iron put into the fire loseth its rust and becometh clearly red-hot, so he that wholly turneth himself unto God puts off all slothfulness, and is transformed into a new man." (Thomas A. Kempis)

4.                  "Flee sloth; for the indolence of the soul is the decay of the body". (Cato)

5.                  "Sloth is an inlet to disorder, and makes way for licentiousness. People that have nothing to do are quickly tired of their own company". (Jeremy Collier)

6.                  "Sloth is the torpidity of the mental faculties; the sluggard is a living insensible". (Johann Georg Von Zimmerman)

7.                  "Slovenliness is a lazy and beastly negligence of a man's own person, whereby he becomes so sordid as to be offensive to those about him". (Theophrastus)

8.                  "Excess is not the only thing which breaks men in their health, and in the comfortable enjoyment of themselves; but many are brought into a very ill and languishing habit of body by mere sloth; and sloth is in itself both a great sin, and the cause of many more". (Bishop Robert South)

9.                  "That destructive siren, sloth, is ever to be avoided". (Horace)

10.             "Sloth * * * never arrived at the attainment of a good wish". (Cervantes)