Principal’s Ponderings

Recently I came across a devotional I had first read a couple of years ago which was about sloth — one of the so-called Seven Deadly Sins. The devotional was entitled “Lazy Busy” and the author, Tony Reinke had a very different take on sloth than I had considered before. Before reading the devotional I had always thought of the animal when thinking about the sin. The sloth, of course, is one of the laziest and slowest animals you will see in a zoo. This understanding of sloth also came from reading passages such as 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13 and Proverbs 26:14-15. Reinke explains that modern day sloth is not simply about lacking desire or being lazy or idle. Rather he says that sloth is a sin of desire in that it is “a chronic quest for worldly comfort that compounds boredom- boredom with God, boredom with people, boredom with life.” He further says that modern day slothfulness thrives in a busy life. As he says, “the most common species of slothfulness is being “lazy busy”- a full schedule endured in a spiritual haze, begrudging interruptions, resenting needy people, driven by a craving for the next comfort.” He says that modern day sloth tells us that everything should be about our comfort and about keeping us comfortable for the future. Unfortunately, this pre-occupation with comfort leads to a me-first (and possibly a me-only) mentality which will certainly have a negative impact on our relationships with others and certainly also on our relationship with God. God certainly does not promise us a comfortable life nor do I believe that He wants us to make comfort in this life our highest priority. Instead, He wants us to faithfully follow Him and to put our trust in Him to provide for us. In fact the “comfort” that we should most strongly cling to is found in Lord’s Day 1 of the Heidelberg Catechism.  May we all be “heartily willing and ready from now on to live for Him” and not allow ourselves to be lazy busy.