Tag: laziness

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Why laziness is so irritating to your boss.

Reading Time: 2 minutes

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

Why in the world would the New Living Translation and Eugene Peterson’s, The Message Translation call “those who send them,”employers? I had never seen a Proverb talk about employers before. It is all about this little Hebrew word, “shalach: to send.”

Hebrew is much more poetic, than perfect. It’s more subjective than specific. I believe it’s a language of picturesque beauty and mental translations of emotion and imagery. It’s a heart language. As you dig into small passages like this one, you discover there is a story behind the word. I also agree with Tim Keller when he promotes the idea that Proverbs was a young man’s curriculum for learning about life and how to live well, godly, through wisdom.

This word, “shalach” is mostly about the critical nature of communication and how important messages get from one person to another, one town to another or a king, head of family or even an employer to someone of importance. As you can see, accuracy and urgency would be critical to deliver news or emergencies. Think about a network of B2B, or calling 911 or sending a fast mail carrier on horseback to the president. Kind of like the pony express, Paul Revere or the bat signal.

The messenger is crucial because the message must get through! Now think of how you would run a business, a household or a country while depending on a lazy messenger. The one that wakes late, leaves late, naps too often and meanders to their destination well past the deadline. The person or deal is dead, the news is stale, the message now useless. Can you see how dangerously frustrating this would be?

One commentator writes, “They who send a sluggard, who make him their agent, do it to their own sorrow.” Compare and contrast to this Proverb 25:13, “Trustworthy messengers refresh like snow in summer. They revive the spirit of their employer.” Proverbs point for young men and women or anyone who wants to structure their life with wisdom – lazy people are not dependable… so DON’T be one! Don’t be a person that tastes like vinegar in your employer’s mouth or tears in their eyes. Make and live a reputation of hustle and reliability and you’ll never have to worry about work or money.

Prayer

Dad,
I am so thankful you changed my life so much that I have been able to prove my mother wrong! As I’ve said before, as an early teen she told me I was lazy, and I was. Even as I got older, I was still lazy compared to her work ethics. I am thankful for her and for the work you’ve done in my life. Do I still like to nap? Absolutely. But, my grit and determination has grown 1000%. I do not want to lazy about my purpose here on earth or to my calling as a Pastor. I want to work hard to be all about your Kingdom here on earth.

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The law of lazy.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“Lazy people are soon poor; hard workers get rich. A wise youth harvests in the summer, but one who sleeps during harvest is a disgrace.” Proverbs‬ ‭10‬:‭4‬-‭5‬ ‭NLT‬‬

I can’t stand the word lazy. The reason; my mother swore I was lazy and told me so. The truth; in comparison to my adopted mother, I was lazy. She worked very hard, ALL-THE-TIME. She was a line-worker at a thermostat company in Long Beach, California – Robertshaw. She was an assembler. Think Lucille Ball on the candy conveyor belt episode. She was a union gal and a fierce advocate for herself and those who worked hard for very little money. She was up and out the door of our house everyday weekday at 4:30am and didn’t get home until 3 or 4pm. Saturdays were clean the house day, so she slept in until 7am when she would flip on the alarm clock/vacuum cleaner announcing that a day of chores had begun. Cartoons on Saturday were always a negotiable luxury. IF all basic, daily chores of bed making, room spotless, teeth brushed, face washed, hair combed, and breakfast (at the dining room table only) was finished. PLUS, the promise of hard-labor, yard work, then and only then was few morning cartoons an option. Mom would continue vacuuming in the back of the house, but we knew it was eventually coming to the living room where we had the one and only television set. So, yes, comparatively, I AM lazy! But I was just a kid, then I was just a teenager – you get the picture.

What my mother was trying to teach me, but I never got it, was this principle: laziness and work yield results! Laziness yields ZERO results. Work yields results like resources, money and opportunities. The Biblical principle is a law of nature. If you put the phrase, “sowing and reaping” into a search engine, it will give you pages and pages of Christian responses. However, if you put “gravity” in the same search engine, you’ll get pages and pages of secular/scientific responses. You know that sowing and reaping is a scientific fact, right? If something isn’t planted, nothing is the guaranteed result. Planting is necessary to reaping. In the odd parable of the talents that Jesus told, the person given one talent, yet buries it, is scolded by the owner. In a very one-talent, defensive response, the one talent person says, of the owner, you are a hard man “reaping where you have not sown.” What? Really? This parable is a lesson of God’s expectation that His kids inherently know. God sows into us and expects to reap results. Those results are certainly salvation, but also to whom much is given, much is required. The last thing I’d want to be is lazy with what God has given me!

Also, what a tragedy if I were to be so busy sowing and find myself sleeping when it comes time to harvest. Again, I’m no farmer, but I have seen some great movies about living off the land. To think of all the work, money and time it takes to prep and plant seed in a field and then to watch it all rot because it was not harvested. When it’s harvest time, everything and everyone makes it the top priority to bring it in! God has been planting seeds of the gospel in the culture right around us – even today. He has been working long hours cultivating the soil of human hearts. Some of us have been participating with him in this endeavor. I tell you, there is a harvest coming. There is another revolution on the horizon. Who knows, it may be the last big one! I do not want to be lazy nor unprepared to get out into the fields and reap God’s abundant harvest that’s coming.

Prayer

Dad,
I not only want to be a part of sowing seed, the good news of your love, salvation, rescue and redemption. I also want to be a part of the great harvest. I want to be the Dad who goes out to the road everyday, looking for signs that our prodigals have returned. And with fast legs, waving open arms and rejoicing voice, I want to say welcome home.