YOU DIDN'T JUST CALL ME SLOTHFUL, DID YOU?

YOU DIDN’T JUST CALL ME SLOTHFUL, DID YOU?

In the voice of Peter Parker in Captain America: Civil War, “Hey everyone.”

Now we’ve got that out of the way, “WAZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!” (I still can’t remember who said that, nor the movie it was said in; must be one of the Wayans brothers.)

It’s been ages, I know, I know. Hold your horses. Or your cars. Or bicycles. Whichever one you drive/ride-my point is, I had to be away for a while, for some reasons. Am I back?

*In John Wick’s voice* “Yeah I’m thinking I’m back!”

 Dear John Wick, please, I didn't steal your car, or kill your dog.

So, where have I been? I’ve been having my mould broken, both literally and figuratively. Where? Well, at Mouldbreak, duh? Where have you been living, under a rock? Mouldbreak, under the tutelage of the College Director is a place where all your moulds will be broken. You think you know who you are?

Think again.

In fact, seeing as how your current level of thinking is what is informing how you think, don’t think. Come and see and hear for yourself, on Mondays at The Arena, No 30 Tombia Street, GRA, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, after work from 4pm -8pm. For a more personal mentoring session, you can come to 12 Mbonu Street, D-Line.

In fact, it was in one of these mentoring sessions that a door into what I am about to talk about was opened. I took a peek at what was inside, and it got me excited. And then, a friend of mine called on me to talk to a small group of friends on this same issue, which meant that I had to go study.

Boy, was my mind blown.

*We'll be back after this (non)commercial break*

Yes, that place I've been going to? Here. Come. You need this. Come to School. Every Monday evening. Details in the image

*And we are back to our regularly scheduled program*

Alright, here goes.

I was told to talk about Laziness. Now, this topic is the proverbial stick with which all of us have been beaten with at one point or the other in our lives. We’ve heard it in different variations; “Don’t be lazy!” “Are you lazy?” “Look At this lazy human being.” “It’s like you want to be lazy.” (Feel free to add more. Or not, seeing as it has not helped one bit.) To talk about Laziness, I had to find out what it really was, and then, seeing as how I am a New Creature, recreated in the image of Christ, and I was going to talk with my fellow Believers, I had to look for what God said about the matter, as opposed to what the world said.

Now, some of what I will say will be contrary to what we are used to, but stick with me for a bit.

Oxford defines Laziness as “the quality of being unwilling to work or use energy; idleness.” It’s synonym is Slothfulness. Merriam-Webster called it “disinclined to activity or exertion; not energetic or vigorous; encouraging inactivity or indolence.” The word laziness has always been associated with an unwillingness to work hard, to get our hands dirty with work, to sweat. It’s the reason why we usually cannot call someone we see digging or doing something, sweating, lazy. As long as we can see the evidence of someone’s effort at something via their sweat or their hands getting dirty (literally and figuratively), we don’t say the person is lazy. Maybe unfortunate, depending on the circumstances, but never lazy. I mean, how many of us have seen one of these guys who use carts to take away rubbish, or bricklayers, masons etc and called them lazy? In Pidgin, “ya eye no clear?”.

So, I had to see what God said about laziness, and brethren and sisthren, my mind was shooketh to the bone marroweth.

An accurate depiction of me being shooketh to my bone marroweth...minus the coffee.

A concordance search of the word slothful revealed 15 entries in the Bible, with ONLY 3 of them found in the New Testament. I decided to find the first place Laziness was mentioned in the Bible. I mean, to find the use of a thing, you look at the very first use of it upon its creation. I’m pretty sure that’s why a cup is used to drink; imagine trying to cut yam with a cup. And if you have tried that, well, then I have no words for you.

So yeah, first use.

The very first literal use is in Judges 18:9, but I had to look for more, so I went to the creation of all things, and worked my way down. And I found Genesis 1:26-28 and Genesis 3:17-19, with the first showing us Creation, and the latter showing us the consequence of the fall of man. First, the Blessing.

Genesis 1:26-28 King James Version (KJV)

²⁶ And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

²⁷ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

²⁸ And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

What we see is Man being given Dominion in a garden that has already been prepared for him; his effort was not needed. He was not made to exert any effort; sweatless harvest and prosperity. All he had to do was to exercise his Dominion.

And then, Satan happened.

Genesis 3:17-19 King James Version (KJV)

¹⁷ And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;

¹⁸ Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;

¹⁹ In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

Tell me you see it.

We can perfectly map the Oxford definition of laziness to the Curse pronounced upon man in Gen 3. Laziness is an unwillingness to work or use energy, while the curse says man will SWEAT TO EAT, and when he works, all he’ll get are Thorns and Thistles because the ground is cursed. Therefore, to eat, man had to work. If he was lazy, he would die. The rest of the instances where slothfulness appears in the Old Testament are warnings that stem from the curse; work or die. Be lazy and die.

Proverbs 19:15 King James Version (KJV)

¹⁵ Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep; and an idle soul shall suffer hunger.

 

Proverbs 21:25 King James Version (KJV)

²⁵ The desire of the slothful killeth him; for his hands refuse to labour.

But then we see the first interesting thing, in Proverbs 15:19.

Proverbs 15:19 King James Version (KJV)

¹⁹ The way of the slothful man is as an hedge of thorns: but the way of the righteous is made plain.

“The way of the Slothful man is as an hedge of thorns”.

Hold up.

Read Genesis 3: 17-18. It mentions thorns in relation to man’s work and effort, so why now say this? Why, after saying that man's work will bring him Thorns and Thistles in Gen 3:18-which is essentially his hard work because of the Curse, we are now told that the way of the Slothful is a hedge of Thorns? This just buttresses the point that Slothfulness is a derivative of the Curse.
Okay, even if we are to overlook that, how then do we say that “the way of the righteous is MADE plain,” not that “the righteous shall MAKE THEIR WAY plain. I mean, we would at least expect that MAKING YOUR WAY should be one of the hallmarks of a Righteous man, but God says no. This ain't it, Chief. The righteous don’t have to exert effort to make their way; it is already MADE plain for them.

As Believers, are we not the Righteousness of God in Christ Jesus?

So, I went on to the New Testament, and once again, shookethness.

Who keeps handing me cups of coffee? SHOW YOURSELF!

Romans 12:11 just tells us not to be slothful, but Matthew 25:24-26 shows us who the slothful man is in the Parable of the Talents; the man with one talent. Let’s examine what he did.

He dug the earth and hid his talent; do you know how deep you have to dig the ground to hide something so that the earth doesn’t bring it up before its time? He dug the earth, buried his talent, and covered it up again. I’m pretty sure he did that away from the prying eyes of people, so he must have at least cleared the ground first. Then he must have marked it. Then when his master returned, he went and repeated the process. If you had been opportuned to have seen him at work, I dare say you would not have called him lazy for any reason. I mean, he must have been sweating. There is no record of his colleagues having this same experience; we just see they excercised Dominion by multiplying their talents. When this man came to return his 1 talent to his master, he was called a Wicked and SLOTHFUL servant.

Wait, what? Slothful? After digging, uncovering, and digging again, he was still called SLOTHFUL?

Hebrews 6: 12 is the clincher, as it tells us how to be.

Hebrews 6:12 King James Version (KJV)

¹² That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

The Believer is to follow the way of the Word, not the world. The world calls Slothfulness an unwillingness to work, but the God calls a refusal to follow those who used Faith and Patience to INHERIT the promise. The reason is because most of us have brought this mindset into the Word, trying to earn what is our Inheritance. It doesn’t mean not doing anything, but working as God originally designed man to work; a work from the certainty of Abundance, not lack. Sweatless work.

This is modeled in our lives. Most of us are trying to build wealth so that we will be able to afford for our kids what our parents could not afford for us. The washing machine vs washing with hands. The car vs trekking (except for exercise, which is not trekking but taking a walk; distinction is important). Buying a house or having it built for you, vs building it with your own hands.

The perfect template for this is Jesus. Nowhere is he shown to have exerted effort, except where He was carrying the cross. If He wanted to get anything, all He had to do was speak. He spent time with God in Prayer, and walked according to directions received. Same as David. Noah. Abraham. I could go on and on (actually I can’t, not now; I have to do some work, then read).

The backdrop of the operation of the Believer is Dominion, which is what Adam had before the fall. Laziness is not in the DNA of the Believer, which is why the New Testament doesn’t bother too much with it. What is in our DNA is DOMINION. A King does not have things done for him because he is lazy, but because he has Dominion.

So, did you just call me lazy? I don’t recognize the word. It’s not in my DNA.

Until next time.

The music? I know, I know. I will leave you with a perfect song from a perfect album: Share The Body by Silent Planet, off the album When The End Began (hope I can review it soon). See y’all soon.