The six faces of laziness (2019)

If you’ve been to almost any Christian bookstore and card shop, you’ve probably seen a plaque, bookmark, print, or wall hanging featuring a story called “Footprints in the Sand.”

It tells the story of a man who dreamed of seeing his life as a walk on the beach with God. Over the years there have been two sets of footprints. One was his and the other was God’s. Yet he noticed that during the most difficult times of his life, only one set of footprints appeared in the sand. In his dream he asks God about the one set of footprints and is told that this was the time God carried him.

“Awww. »

Let me give you a new and improved version that a friend already emailed to me:

One night I had a wonderful dream,
A set of footprints was seen,
The traces of my precious Lord,
But mine weren’t along the shore.

But then unknown footprints appeared,
And I asked the Lord, “What do we have here?
These prints are large and round and neat.
But Lord, they are too big for the feet.

“My child,” he said in a dark tone, “
“For miles I carried you alone.
I challenged you to walk in faith,
But you refused and made me wait.

“You disobeyed, you would not grow,
The walk of faith, you wouldn’t know.
So I got tired of it, I got tired of it.
And then I dropped you on your ass.

Because in life, there is a moment,
When we have to fight, and we have to rise,
When it’s time to stand up and take a stand,
Or leave their footprints in the sand.

For some reason, I don’t think I’ll see this one hanging on the wall, much less printed on a greeting card. But it probably should be, because it is one of the most critical obstacles to God’s transforming work in our lives, the sin of laziness.

We don’t hear much about laziness these days, but it’s a good word, a word worth redecorating because it’s a major key to life change through the power of God. According to Dorothy Sayers, laziness is: “…who believes in nothing, cares for nothing, seeks to know nothing, interferes with nothing, benefits from nothing, loves nothing, hates nothing, finds purpose in nothing, lives for nothing, and only stays alive because there is nothing he would die for. »

Or in a one-word statement that many these days have put forward, laziness simply says, “It doesn’t matter.”

However, as encompassing as these descriptions are, laziness is specific in its manifestations. The usual face of laziness is that of laziness. But consider the other faces of laziness, such as the face of tolerancewhich leads us to accept who we are without any attempt to change.

Or the face of apathy. Soren Kierkegaard once said, “Let others complain that their age is wicked; I complain that it is miserable, because it lacks passion.

Or the face of procrastination, the persuasive whisper that there is no need to hurry, robbing us of a proper sense of urgency. Procrastination is knowing what we need to do, but never really committing to doing it.

Or the face of activity. It’s an ironic side of laziness, but very real. We can fill our lives with so many people, events, and entertainment that we never deal with the issues that need our attention most.

Finally, laziness can the face of circumstances. It’s easy to exaggerate the power of circumstance, allowing the situations we encounter to dictate our lives – and more to the point, to dictate what we don’t do. Sloth tells us not to bother, to just give in to the situation.

But whatever his face, we must turn from laziness to diligence,

…Or leave our butt prints in the sand.

James Emery White

Sources

Dorothy Sayers, “The Other Six Deadly Sins” The Lunatic Christian.

Soren Kierkegaard, A Kierkegaard anthologyRobert Bretall, editor.

Editor’s Note

This blog was originally published in 2014 and the Church & Culture team thought you would enjoy reading it again.

About the Author

James Emery White is the founder and senior pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, and the ranked adjunct professor theology and culture at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, where he also served as their fourth president. His latest book, Meeting Generation Z: Understanding and Reaching the New Post-Christian WorldEast available on Amazon. To benefit from a free subscription to the Church & Culture blog, visit the website ChurchAndCulture.orgwhere you can view past blogs in our archives and read the latest church and cultural news from around the world Follow Dr. White on Twitter, Facebook And Instagram.