Numbers 4-5 / Mark 12:15-37/ Psalm 48 / Proverbs 10:26
I’m not sure why the Bible is making me laugh this week, but it is! Proverbs caught my attention this time. Lazy people irritate their employers, like vinegar to the teeth or smoke in the eyes.
Of course, it’s not funny when someone is lazy; it personally drives me crazy. The part of imagining vinegar hitting your teeth or smoke hitting your eyes though… well, at least the part of vinegar hitting your teeth; I feel that pain! Have you ever ingested straight vinegar? Then you know what I’m talking about.
What about the lazy part? As you’ve all read and heard, I’m a Navy brat. My dad served 21 years and retired as a Commander. I was taught to work hard from a young age. I had my first job at 16, and not just any job. I had my own business as a piano teacher. I had 20 students with ages ranging from childhood to adult.
My dad taught me that first year to do my own taxes and report my income. He had me paying my own car insurance on the little 1967 grey Vega I drove (yes, manual 4-speed transmission). We were taught not to let grass grow under our feet. I have never understood anyone who didn’t work as hard.
It’s no surprise I would marry a man with an unmatched work ethic.
To me, lazy isn’t only about physical work. We can be spiritually lazy, emotionally lazy, lazy in our thinking or in our desire to be informed. There are many kinds of lazy.
What else does the Bible say about people who are lazy? As it turns out, the Bible has much to say about the lazy vs the diligent. There are so many verses, I don’t have room to list them all. I encourage you to look them up for yourself. A great one to start with is the story of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30. I’ll summarize…
A man was leaving on a long trip, so he called together his servants and left them in charge of various parts of his estate. He left one with 10 talents, one with 5 talents and one with 1 talent, according to their ability and experience. When he returned, the two with 10 and 5 talents had worked hard and earned more, while the servant with 1 talent had simply buried it without any investment.
The man was excited at the hard work of the first two, but angry with the laziness of the third.
Do you have talents, gifts that you’ve invested in, allowing them to grow and bless others? Do you have talents that you’ve buried? Maybe you buried them out of fear, or concern of what others would think. Maybe it was done because you compared yourself to another and felt small. Whatever the reason, please dig up that gift, dust it off and ask God to show you how to increase it!
There is still time…
