Alright. Welcome to the class entitled "Top Sins and Struggles." "Top 10 Sins and
Struggles." This is lesson number one of that particular series and just I think
people live in the class here kind of understand what's going on, but for those
who may be listening online or on video later on, I need to explain to
those viewers exactly how we got to this point.
So I've distributed surveys that listed possible sins and personal struggles
that many people in the church experience in order to get a little bit
of feedback from the congregation itself concerning the things that this group
has. I've done this many times in the past, we've done it here as well. Well,
the good news, and I got back quite a few, the good
news is twofold: first of all, we had a great response about these surveys, a lot
of people filled them out and handed them back in and when you're doing a survey
or a sampling to try to get a trend or something like that, you've got
to get five - seven percent of the group at least to kind of
figure out if there are some areas, matching areas. Well, we got way over
15% of the entire congregation that filled them out and handed them
in, so that's a great sampling and the way it works is that eventually you
know if you've got twenty choices and people start picking choices, after a
while if it's number four choice, number four choice starts to have
six, seven, eight people, nine people and you could take 40 percent
sampling and number four would simply just get bigger and bigger and bigger,
so it kind of repeats itself, that's why I want to say we got a pretty
good sampling to establish an accurate picture of some of
the things that this particular congregation feels
that, individuals in this congregation, feel that these are things that
we struggle, with not made-up things, things that we struggle with. So
that's the first good news, we had a good sampling. The second piece of
good news is you're not alone. You're not alone. No matter what it is if you happen
to feel like people in this class, no matter what it is that you checked off,
somebody else did too. It's not like a particular sin, only one lonely
individual checked off. No matter how bad it seems, how embarrassing
it might be, you're all...everybody has a partner or two or
three or four that checked off the same particular problem or the same struggle.
You know how you kind of find comfort in the idea when you do
something like this and someone says, "You too? You have that problem or
you struggle with that issue? Well, so do I." I notice I'm not alone in this.
So you're not alone. Whatever you checked off I guarantee you other people checked
off the same kind of things. So as far as the top ten sins and struggles I'm going
to do them in reverse order, like a top ten list; we're going to start
with ten and we're gonna work our way down throughout the weeks to the number
one struggle and I'm going to try not to give it away before we actually get
there. So number ten is laziness. Laziness came in at number ten. Now I had a lot of
sins and struggles. I had more than ten sin or struggles listed on the
survey sheet, but there were a lot of them...you know the numbers of people who
checked off that particular issue was so insignificant it made no difference and
then there are other issues that a whole bunch of people ticked off,
almost every second or third sheet had that as an issue or a problem. So coming
in at number 10 was the problem of laziness, so that's
the one we're going to start with this evening and I'm not going to ask you to
raise your hand if you happen to put that down, I'm not gonna do that.
Let's read scripture here. Surprising to note that the scripture, the very
first line in scripture is a line that deals with laziness. "In the
beginning God created the heavens and the earth." You see my point? From the very
first view we have of God, we see Him doing something; He's working, He's
creating the earth and the universe. Let's keep going Genesis 1 verse 27- 28.
It says, "God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male
and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful
and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the
sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on
the earth." So in the first contact that God has with man we see God giving man
His first command, and His first command is to work, produce society, manage
creation; that's work, that's effort, that's doing something. I want you to
note that the command to work seems to have come before the command against
eating of the forbidden fruit. And so what to do came before what not to do,
and I'll show you the relationship between the two in the garden
scenario. So we see that from the very beginning God has required mankind to
spend energy in work of one kind or another. Even
after the fall God repeated His command that Adam must work in Genesis
3:17, except that now because of sin his work would be less productive and more
difficult than before. So it wasn't the new command. I've heard
some people say, 'Well, after the fall God made man, he had to
work.' He had to work before the fall, it's just that now after the fall that work
is going to be a lot more difficult and a lot less productive. It's interesting
to note that neither Adam nor Eve were busy at the time of the temptation. They
were not together first of all, they had been charged to be working together to
manage the creation, that was the work, and for some reason they were apart and
they weren't busy doing what they should be doing. So there's a lesson there, right?
What is it? Idle hands, the devil's workshop.
Ancient wisdom but certainly biblical wisdom. So God has always expected man to
work and not to want to work is a sign of the sin of laziness and that's my
point. As I mentioned, this sin was the tenth most difficult problem that people
listed in the congregational survey. So let's start a description of the lazy
person shall we? Excuse me. The dictionary describes laziness or the lazy person in
this way, not a Bible dictionary, just an ordinary dictionary, it says "one who does
not like to work, one who finds activity or effort distasteful." So let's examine
this definition. It says, "does not like that which requires physical or mental
effort," what we normally call work, and the question is why? Well some of the
reasons; one, immaturity. This person would rather play than work. Some people play
and call it work, thereby hiding their laziness and
play activities or they choose to do what requires the least amount of effort.
Why lazy? Another reason, selfish. Physical and mental effort requires the
giving of self and a lazy person is basically a selfish person. This
is a real problem. A lazy person loves himself too much to give away any of
himself away in work or in service.
Another point in the definition of laziness here, "loves idleness." Loves
idleness. Lazy people love inactivity, sleep, again I'm not against sleep
obviously, but lazy people they just love to lounge. They love entertainment more
than work. Anything that requires effort or the pain of giving is negative in
their experience. Their happiness comes from self-indulgence and easy diversion
rather than the satisfaction of accomplishment or effort or service. If
you notice Jesus never went around and said to His disciples, 'Now you
go and make sure you entertain yourselves.' Why? Because He knew they knew
how to do that. The part that's hard is you go and do this work, you serve this
thing, you build that whatever, preach the gospel to the whole world, that's work;
entertain yourselves, oh yeah, man knows how to do that part, doesn't need a
command from God on that deal. Some might say that it's their life, it's
my life and if I can be lazy if I want to be lazy, that's the way I am, period,
you have to deal with it. But the Bible paints another picture of laziness and
the true character of the lazy person in God's eye. So here we were just
looking at the dictionary definition and a couple
of possible psychological reasons why a person has a bent towards lazy behavior.
Let's look at what the Bible says about laziness, because the Bible
doesn't talk about laziness as an objective thing over there, as a subject,
the Bible talks about lazy people; it describes people who are lazy and
what they're like so that we, all of us, are able to see in a person, ourselves, a
mirror of ourselves if that happens to be an issue for us. And so what does the
Bible say about laziness? Well the Bible describes a lazy person
as being wasteful. Proverbs 18:9, it says, "He also who is slack in his work," lazy,
Is brother to him who destroys." Proverbs 18:9. He wastes his time, he wastes his
energy, talent, opportunities by not using or under using or improperly using those
gifts. Lazy people often invest into things which are not really work,
just time fillers. Remember they avoid work and replace it with activity that
they like. A perfect example of this is a clerk when I worked before I went into
preaching, I worked for different companies and I worked for a company called
Bristol-Myers and I was the service manager for Bristol-Myers in the office
and I had a girl that worked, young woman, that worked in our department and she
would fill her day with busy work to avoid the actual work that she had to
do; she would clean her... first thing she would clean her desk coming in,
put it..., go sharpen her pencils, and do a thing, go to the stationery, get a
little more paper, put lead in her... I mean really, busy work. I could see
from my... I could see her cubicle. She would put her stationery in order,
talk on the phone to her mother, get that morning call to mom. Long breaks,
her break routine was amazing, 15 minutes before the break
she'd go to the bathroom, freshen up the makeup, do her business,
son on and so forth, a little brush, put on makeup and then she
would come back to her desk and Ding! 'Oh, it's break time!' Then she would go on her
break and come back. We had 20 minutes because the cafeteria
was a couple of flights down so it took time to get to the cafeteria to get a
coffee, sit down, chitchat. So she'd always be late and then what did
she do when she came back? Well, she had to go back to the bathroom and re- fix
the makeup, maybe take a call. She would have... she would write her birthday cards,
her thing, her shopping lists, in the afternoon it was her sister that she
called. In other words, if I clocked her, it was incredible;
she had her day scheduled with these type of things so she could avoid as
much as possible the real work that she had to do. Well, she was insulted, believe
it or not, when asked to do more, you know we want more production and she
requested an assistant. I'm serious, this is a true story.
Of course, she was fired eventually because of her laziness. Her laziness
caused her to waste the company's time and money. Lazy people are not
just a burden to themselves, they're a burden to other people because they
waste other people's time, they waste other people's energy and money. What she
wasn't doing the other girls or guys who worked in there, they had to pick up the
slack, they had to get the extra telephone call, they had to go for the
general manager, they had to go down to the file room and find some orders or
whatever, delayed orders or whatever, they had to do it. 'Yeah, yeah, yeah, mom,
just a minute, you want to go run down and get that for me? OK, mom
you were saying?' I mean they are a burden to others because others have to work
harder to make up for their laziness. So a lazy person is wasteful the Bible says.
Lazy person full of excuses. "The sluggard," I love that, the sluggard. "The sluggard
says, 'There's a lion in the road! A lion is in the open square!' As the door turns
on its hinges, So does the sluggard on his bed." Whoa,
the imagery of the door turning on its hinges; the sluggard in his bed, he
turns one way, freshens up his pillow, turns the other way, freshens up his
pillow, wonderful imagery there used. A lazy person is an expert at making
excuses; why things should be done tomorrow, why things are not finished, why
things are too hard, too far. too complicated, too much. The reason why a
lazy person doesn't succeed is always, always somebody else's fault or
something else's fault. Usually the lazy ones end up using all
of their energy being jealous of others who succeed because they think it's
their fault that they're not getting anywhere. 'I should have gotten that
promotion. Pfffh, it'll be a cold day in this office when I'll do
any overtime. OK, I should have gotten that promotion.' For the lazy
person an obstacle is something which will provide you with an excuse to avoid
an effort of some kind. For a diligent person an obstacle is something that
forces you to figure out another way of getting the job done, but for a lazy
person an obstacle's just... I've just got the built-in reason why
I'm not gonna get this finished. One more thing the Bible says about laziness, lazy
people are wise in their own eyes. "The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes
Than seven men who can give a discreet answer." I love that one too. So lazy
people you know... you ever notice they know everything, they know all of the
answers? You can't tell them anything. You can't show them anything, but the
truth of the matter is that lazy people avoid two things at all costs: effort,
truth. Effort and truth. It's a vicious cycle. If they admit the truth that their
problem is laziness, they will have to work, make an effort and they don't like
making an effort so we're back at square one. So the most effort they make
is that they avoid the truth. Alright, so the Bible says other things,
but I think we're getting the picture here OK? So there's a danger.
Some will say, 'So what? That's their problem. What's the danger?'
Sins are sins because they can harm us in some way or another and laziness,
laziness is not a struggle. My mom died and I'm just struggling with
the grief; OK, that's a struggle. I'm struggling with depression or
that's a struggle, laziness is not a struggle, laziness is sin. That's why
it's called the top ten sins and struggles. We'll get to struggles
in weeks to come, but for now number 10 as far as votes are concerned,
laziness, number 10. So laziness presents a real danger to those who struggle with
this sin, so it may be a struggle in that sense. What are the dangers? More biblical
dangers. Well, first of all, laziness leads to poverty. "Laziness casts into a deep
sleep, And an idle man will suffer hunger," not just physical poverty, but emotional
and spiritual poverty as well. Lazy people who make no effort for
physical things, they will not do it for emotional things or
spiritual things as well. If a guy's lazy at work,
he'll be lazy at church and be lazy in their marriage, their relationship,
because relationships they require effort, you got to work at a
relationship and if you don't like work well... Secondly, laziness leads to shame.
"He who gathers in summer is the son who acts wisely, But he who sleeps in harvest
is a son who acts shamefully." A disordered life caused by laziness
brings shame on those who depend on you. Those things that bring honor to a
person, all of them come with effort. A distaste of making an effort brings the
opposite, it brings shame. A third thing, laziness leads to dissatisfaction and
this is, I think this is the one that eats you up from the inside,
this one right here. "The soul of the slugger craves and gets nothing, but the
soul of the diligent is made fat." Eventually one's laziness robs
that person of the many joys in life that other people have and so lazy
people who don't acknowledge the truth grow envious of others and depressed
about their own condition. I mean when you're your own worst enemy because of
laziness and you see others around you succeeding, finding joy, and so on and so
forth and you're not getting any of that because you're not reaching out to take
it, to work for it, all you have left is to crave, is to lust after it, is to
be jealous, is to be resentful of other people. Isn't it amazing the relationship
between resentfulness or resentment and laziness? You meet people who
are really lazy, if you know them at all, and they're really lazy and you
just scratch the surface and you'll find a person who is
often resentful about life, about other people, got nothing good to say about
anybody else; to me this is the most painful thing that a person who
is lazy will suffer. The Bible says laziness leads to slavery,
"The hand of the diligent will rule, but the slack hand will be put to forced
labor." So lazy people still want things, but they become indebted to other people
in order to get those things. Very sad. You see it takes no effort to create
debt, I think we all have learned that lesson, especially in this day and age
where you don't even have to make the effort to get out of your house, get into
your car, or take the bus or something and go to Walmart or go to the
mall and look around and find something and try it on; I mean that
requires effort, so at least your laziness protects you, it keeps you at
home, right? But today are you kidding me? Go online, Amazon, woo, hmm, you know red
shoes, whatever, hunting rifle, this, that, whatever. It's so easy,
then you see what it is, well let me see a video, let me see how that works and
they show you how it works and the delivery is free, I'm saving money. Just
click, you're the proud owner of whatever and so shopping without any effort and
easy credit, oh my goodness, that's Armageddon for the lazy person, I mean
that's hell on earth for the lazy person.
So not all poor people are lazy for sure, but most lazy people end up being poor:
financially, emotionally, spiritually. They end up being unsatisfied and slaves to
someone or something else
and this is not somebody else's fault and this is not bad luck and it is not
lack of opportunity or lack of talent, it's just laziness. It's just laziness.
Alright, so it's easy, again, it's easy to call something out.
It's easy to find the negatives, the failings, very easy thing to do,
but how do you deal with it because obviously if people put down that
thing it came in at number 10 on our list, obviously people struggle
with that thing. Nobody's a hundred percent lazy.
I'm presenting it to you with with large contrasts there so you can
see it, but people struggle with that and sometimes more during a certain time of
year than another time of year they just can't get it going. So how do
you deal with it? Enough about the sin itself, how do we deal with laziness? As I
said nobody's 100 percent lazy, it's one of many sins that we all have to deal
with at one time or another. Some are more prone to this sin just as some are
more prone to anger for example or sexual sins and so on and so forth. OK,
how do we how do we get a handle on this thing? Because that's what this class is
about, not just naming the sins, but let's get some strategies how do we
deal with this stuff. OK, number one. Acknowledge the truth. That's pretty much
number one for any sin, but especially for this sin, because the problem with
this sin is with without seeing yourself you can never get out of it. "If we say
that we have no sin," John says, "we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not
in us. If we confess our sins, He's faithful and righteous to forgive us our
sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." This is the hardest step
for any sin, to actually admit that this one is true for us. Nothing that you need
to help you change will come to you or be given to you if you do not confess
your fault and your need,
and this is what John is saying here. If we say that we have... he doesn't mean if we
say we have no sin like no sin at all, but a particular [sin], [if we] deny this issue in our
lives, then we deceive ourselves and the truth
is not in us, the truth that we are Christians, that we're faithfully
following Christ. The follower of Christ doesn't deny that he or she has a sin
issue, but if he says "If we confess our sins, He," meaning God, "is faithful and
righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." The
forgiveness for the sin itself and all that it has caused plus the power to
overcome it begins here. We could take laziness out
and put alcohol abuse in the slot and number one that would be the number one
step acknowledge it. It's just it's usually a different process of
acknowledgment you know what I'm saying? But it's always to step into the light
and say, 'You know what? This is a real issue with me.' Number two.
Number two, repent. Repent. "I tell you," Jesus says, "no, but unless you repent ,you
will all likewise perish." Luke 13:5. Once you acknowledge
the hard truth about yourself you can begin to change. People do not usually
change because they either don't know, don't believe, or are in denial about the
truth concerning themselves. But if you accept that laziness, for example, really
is a sin that you're guilty of... So here are three things that you can actually
think and do to bring about a meaningful change. So, number one, acknowledge it
absolutely; number two, repent, make a decision, I'm gonna deal with this thing,
OK, now what are the practical things to do?
Well, first of all, accept that you have to work.
You have to work. Paul says, "For even when we were with you, we used to give you
this order: if anyone is not willing to work, then he's not to eat, either." I
don't want to talk politics here because we hear so much of it all the time you
know 24/7, but I'm in favor of government plans that require able-bodied
individuals to serve in some way in order to receive a compensation check
from the government. Obviously we are a wealthy nation and
as a wealthy nation, and I still think a very strongly believing nation, it's just
that the unbelievers and the wackos they're the ones that get on TV all the
time, but I think in churches all around here there are people meeting
to praise God and so on and so forth; I think in a country like this we ought
to have programs that reach out and help those who are ill or too old or
who get mashed up in the system, absolutely, of course, and we can afford
it. The problem is when people who are lazy find a way to plug in to a
government that simply begins giving them everything that they need without
any return from themselves and why do I think that? Is that a political idea that
I have? Of course not, it's a biblical idea. Second Thessalonians 3:10.
It's just that Paul or the Holy Spirit is more succinct in
laying out his ideas than some of our politicians. So in two lines he says
everything you need to know: "If anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to
eat, either." Well, I tell you if that was the idea, if that was the idea, we'd still
be able to take care of the people who need taken care of, but we would sure
carve out a lot of the fat where money is being spent for nothing and is simply
enabling people to take advantage of the good system that we have. OK,
that sounds just a little too political, but
that's certainly one way that this scripture can fit into our political
thinking; that you work, that you make an effort is God's will for you. You are
happier and healthier when you obey His will in this matter. So how do I change?
Accept the fact that this is the way it is. You need to work. You need to make an
effort. I don't just mean you need to have a job, 9:00 to 5:00, at Tinker or
wherever you are, not that; that in life things require effort.
Like I said, relationships they require effort. Friendships require effort. Faith
issues require effort. Having food that the family enjoys, right,
requires effort; you've got to shop, you've got to cook, you've got to find a recipe,
you've got to try stuff, it requires effort. And in our society the idea is
always easy and fast; easy food, fast food, fast food and easy food. So we have a
generation of children growing up and their modus operandi is 'It's got to be
easy, it's got to be fast.' Secondly, and this is this is key right here, if
you have a lazy streak in you and you want to put the shock paddles on that
lazy streak, here it is. Are you ready? If you don't remember anything, remember
this: Do it now! Do it now! "He who watches the wind will not sow and he who looks
at the clouds will not reap." Do not put off until tomorrow what can be
reasonably done today. Procrastination is the lazy man's effort at working. You get
that? Procrastination that is the work that a lazy person does. He sees the task
and makes the effort to put it off until later promising to work tomorrow,
that's as much as an effort that he's going to make, because the effort is
always going to come in the future and when the future comes the effort is
always rushed, at the last minute, sloppy, full of excuses. So putting off, that's a
habit. Procrastination that's just a nasty habit. That's if you
bite your nails down to the core, that's just a bad habit,
you just got it work at getting rid of that habit. Procrastination, same
thing, it's a habit. It's a habit of response that you picked up somewhere,
we pick up somewhere along the way and it becomes our our go-to thing; something
comes across our desk or in our field of vision or across our lane of
responsibility and the first instinct is to push it away, kick it down the road,
little things and big things. I've seen marriages fall apart because of
procrastination. 'We need to sit down and talk honey.' 'Yeah, that's true. We do. Well,
let's let's do that Saturday. Saturday the kids to be off and then
other kids are going camping. We'll do it Saturday.' OK and then
Saturday, 'So I got to work overtime, so let's find a time next week.' That
little old girl you know says, 'You know what? Maybe I just won't be around next
week for you to talk to.' Yeah it happens. Putting it off is a habit, it needs to
replaced with a new habit and the new habit is
doing it now; and doing it now, that's true repentance, you're walking across
the living room, right, and there's the bunched up thing on the floor that's
just on the floor that ought to be over here on the shelf and the lazy person
will walk by and say, 'Man, I got to get that in a minute here,' keeps on going to the
thing, right? You want to repent? Really, you want to repent? You are repenting for
sure of laziness if you're walking through and you see it, step one, 'Oh, that
thing, I'll get it in a minute,' and then, 'Nope, I'm gonna do it now,'
because if you can't do that, alright, if you can't do that simple thing I
guarantee you you won't be able to do 'Honey, we need to talk.' You won't be able
to do that, because if you're not faithful in being able to do things now
in little things, then you can't be trusted and you won't have the ability
to do it now for big things, OK?
It requires faith to do things now and not wait until the time is right or
everything is perfect or, and here's the big one, or I just feel like it. 'Why don't
you do it now?' 'Well, I don't feel like it,' and my answer to that is, 'You don't feel
like it? What you're saying to me is, "You do not feel like making the effort now."
That's what you don't feel like.' If it has to be done, do it now. So repentance
from laziness means you have to work and you should do things right away as they
come up. And then thirdly, I forgot to read that scripture and let me just read
this scripture in Ecclesiastes here before I move on to the next one. It
says, "Just as you do not know the path of the wind and how bones are formed in the
womb of the pregnant woman, so you do not know the activity of God who makes all
things. Sow your seed in the morning and do not be idle in the evening, for you do
not whether morning or evening sewing will
succeed, or whether both of them alike will be good." You don't know do it now.
You don't know how God is going to bless what you do, but He can't bless it if you
don't do it. He can't bless you if you put it off till tomorrow. OK, third
thing, cultivate a Christian attitude about work. Paul says again,
First Thessalonians, "and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your
own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you, so that you
will behave properly toward outsiders and not being in any need." Again, you
understand when he says, "work with your hands," he's not talking about only manual
labor is blessed, right? That's not what he's saying. When he says 'working with
your hands,' meaning you're responsible for yourself and other people are not
working with their hands to take care of you, you're taking care of you with your
own hands, that's the point here. So the care for your work and to do it
well, or the case rather for your work and to do it well, is a witness of your
faith. The purpose of work is not just to counterbalance laziness or provide for
our needs, but also to provide for others in need, Ephesians 4:28. The hardest work
we had in Montreal when we first went there; we started a church in a very poor
part of the city. Most of the people that lived around there were on welfare and
they had been on welfare for like three generations. We had a
grandfather, a son, and a grandson; all three of them had never worked. They'd
been on welfare and a lot of these cousins and that had become Christians,
started coming to church and the hardest sermon for them to hear was Paul,
'if they don't work, they don't eat.' A lot of people fell away at the beginning
in this congregation, a lot of people fell away from Christ, from the church
not because of the teaching on sexual purity or faithfulness to church
attendance, things like that, no! They fell away because, 'Wait a minute,
you mean as a Christian I got to work?' and it like, no, they couldn't handle that
truth and many of them just stopped coming to church because of that thing.
We need to remember that our work is an offering of service to God, not to men.
"Slaves, in all things obey those who are your masters on earth, not with external
service, of those who merely please men, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the
Lord. Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for
men," then he says, "knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the
inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve." So people without Christ see
work as a means to an end. I work to produce wealth and power and
comfort and satisfaction, fair enough. Solomon says that here on earth work
is man's greatest source of comfort and joy, here on earth, Ecclesiastes
2:24; but for the spiritual man or woman in Christ, work is much more than this,
work for the Christian is a witness of an honorable life before society. The
problem in the church in Verdun was that people would be becoming
Christians and seeing these brethren, 'So what do you do?' 'Well, I'm on
welfare.' 'Oh really? Have you had an accident?' 'No' 'Oh,
have you been ill or something, you have some sort of handicap?' 'No. No, I'm
just not able to find what I like to do.' You know you see a guy get his welfare
check and then go buy a Nintendo game with it and a package of cigarettes and
then show up at church on Sunday, that was not like a great witness for Christ. Our
work is also an expression of love for one's family as well as those who are in
need, absolutely. Some men they're
men a few words, they don't say much, but they're not afraid to work and they'll
work and then work overtime so you their little girl can take ballet
classes and maybe they're working overtime and they can't go to the ballet
class but they're making sure the money is coming on to the table so that the
kids have what they need and Momma has what she needs and so on and so forth
or sometimes it's mama who's working to take care of business.
Well, yeah, work is love, work is love, and work is
also a sincere offering of love and service to God in Christ because we're
still under the Genesis thing; you know multiply, subdue the earth, we're still
under that except now I manage my little half acre and keep my
house clean and try to recycle. You know what I mean? But we're still under
that thing. A Christian can in good conscience achieve riches and power and
satisfaction from work, but realizes that these are the benefits that can come
from hard work, but they're not the objectives of work. The objective of work
is to witness and to show our love for our loved ones and an offering of
service to God. So in conclusion I've said that laziness
is a difficult sin to conquer because it's not just a habit like
smoking, for example, it's a character trait and it's a dangerous sin because
it can lead to the ruin of our lives and a loss of faith in God. Change or
repentance is difficult, it's slow, it's painful, but it can be done. True
repentance, remember, requires admitting the truth,
beginning to do today today's things and not procrastinate and the change in
attitude about work itself to a more Christian view to see it as a witness of
faith, an act of love, an effort at godly service. I think if a person repents in
this way God will bless and reward that person richly for all of the work that
they do no matter how humble it is.