The Sluggard part 2

So, back to this character in Proverbs: The Sluggard. If we are at risk of sluggardly tendencies outside the work-place, in our walk with God, or our relationships, what can we learn to avoid them?

4. When it comes to work-life balance, the Sluggard is off-balance:

He is famed for his sleeping habits. He is so laid back he’s horizontal: ‘How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep?’ [Proverbs 6:9]. And, in the Slack family’s favourite proverb, The Sluggard is not so much chained to his bed, as hinged to it: ‘As a door turns on its hinges, so does a sluggard on his bed’ [Proverbs 26:14]. Whilst others go for a run, or go to the gym, The Sluggard’s exercise regime consists of rolling over in bed. He is the perpetual teenager, the thirty-something still playing computer games until three in the morning. He doesn’t get up, let alone grow up.

So, key no. 4, get into training. Paul exhorts Timothy, ‘Train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way’ (1 Tim 4:7-8); and a few verses later he says, ‘that all may see your progress (15). So by applying himself to his walk with God – by getting into training – Paul expects Timothy to be making visible progress in his Christian faith, progress that others can see. The question is, what will that training look like? It is whatever puts us in the position where we receive more of God’s grace and enabling power in our lives. It is cultivating the regular habits of prayer and Bible reading – coming to God, confessing your need of His Spirit and listening to His voice through His word.

5. The Sluggard doesn’t start things:

It’s not that he’s a slow starter, he just doesn’t start: ‘a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest’ [Proverbs 6:10]. With the Sluggard it’s always ‘a little, a little, a little’ [Kidner, Proverbs, 39] – he is the procrastinator extraordinaire. The problem for the Sluggard is that those ‘littles’ have a cumulated negative impact on his life: ‘I passed by the field of a sluggard, by the vineyard of a man lacking sense, and behold, it was overgrown with thorns; the ground was covered with nettles, and its stone wall was broken down. Then I saw and considered it; I looked and received instruction. A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man’ [Proverbs 24:30-34].

So key no. 5, when you recognize this tendency, get before God in prayer and ask Him, ‘Father, change my heart. Give me a growing love for you and your word. That I won’t just be a hearer, but a doer (James 1:22).’ And that ability to start and to do comes from God. When comparing himself to others, Paul could say, ‘I worked harder than them all.’ No sluggard there. But he immediately follows that up with, ‘though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me’ (1 Cor 15:10). So whether it is starting, or continuing, it’s God’s grace at work in our lives. And that means there’s no place for boasting.

6. The Sluggard doesn’t finish things:

If the Sluggard does get round to starting something, he never quite follows it through, whether that is finishing a meal, or hunting his game [Proverbs 19:24; 26:15; 12:27]. The Sluggard doesn’t last the distance.

But Christ did. On the cross, He could cry out, ‘It is finished’ (John 19:30) and so Hebrews can say he is the ‘founder and perfector’ – the starter and the finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). And it’s because of that finishing power of Jesus that we can finish well (2 Tim 4:7).

So key no. 6: entrust yourself to Jesus’ finishing power, yield to His grace at work in your life. And as He conforms you to His image (Romans 8:29), you’ll increasingly become one who not only starts well, but finishes well.