Proverbs 10:26. Like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to those who send him.
I’m not sure about vinegar on my teeth, but I’ve definitely had smoke in my eyes. The smoke filled eyes water and burn and making you have to keep them closed for a while until they recover. Solomon says that’s what it’s like when you ask a sluggard, a lazy person, to do a job for you.
The sluggard is a common character in the Proverbs. He is lazy, helpless, full of excuses, and generally a headache to those who attempt to rely on him. The sluggard either doesn’t begin projects, doesn’t finish projects, or somehow both. Worst of all, he rationalizes his own laziness and begins to believe his own excuses (“there’s a lion outside” 22:13, “it’s too cold outside to plow” 20:4).
The warning in today’s proverb, however, is not just for the sluggard, but for those who try to send the sluggard to do a job for them. The sluggard is so unreliable, so only a fool would count on him.
Hopefully you are not the sluggard, but maybe you have counted on a sluggard and been burned. Maybe you’ve hired the sluggard, worked next to the sluggard, or worked for the sluggard. Such experiences can be truly frustrating. Soul sucking even. Proverbs mocks the sluggard, but the long term effects of their laziness are anything but a joke. A business, a church, even a family can be destroyed by laziness.
The applications here for the business owner, manager, or even church are obvious. Don’t be lazy in choosing who will work for you. Don’t hire the sluggard. Don’t enlist the sluggard. Keep looking for help if you need to. Hire character and competence.
Jesus was sent by the Father to complete a cosmic task, and Jesus was no sluggard. Jesus didn’t fail to begin his work, nor did he fail to complete it. “It is finished” was his decree from the cross. The work of our justification now performed to perfection. And now the work of our sanctification continues, as he who began the good work in us will be faithful to complete it.
For those who are in Christ, this ongoing spiritual work being done IN us becomes the spiritual work being done BY us. Everything is spiritual when you, yourself are spiritual. This means that for the believer, our work is always “as unto the Lord, not for human masters.” Therefore, there should be no room in the Christian’s heart for laziness. Christ is working hard in you, and the Christ in you wants to work hard through you for the kingdom of God. He wants to be zealous, enthusiastic, and motivated, so that “whatever we do, we work at it with all our heart.”
Every task we undertake is done for the glory of God the Father. And when you are connected to Jesus, it is all done FROM him. From his love and from his strength. Our work done from the work already done in us.
You: Are you ever lazy?
You in Christ: How does knowing that Christ’s work is finished motivate you to work hard at all you do for the glory of God?
Christ in you: How does Christ in us turn all our work into spiritual work?
Pray: Father, your work in me is both compete and ongoing. Keep my heart free from laziness as part of your ongoing work in me through Christ. Amen.
To Live is Christ 