![]() He is interested in our boldness to practice with the tools that He gave us. At the root of the fear of failure is our desire to please people more than God, for God is not interested in our perfect attempts. Fear is fruitless and it is not from God. Finally, the charge to “ awake!” is a call not to be afraid to act.The charge to be “ imitators of those who, through faith and patience, inherit the promises” reminds us that it is possible to lose sight, but we have the influence we need to stay on the path we know in our hearts we should be on.The charge not to be “ slothful in zeal” shows that the root of slothfulness can be found in losing sight of purpose which leads to idleness.Understanding and encouragement flow from these verses. “For God gave us a spirit not of fear, but of power and love and self-control.” ( 2 Timothy 1:7).Therefore it says, ‘Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.’” ( Ephesians 5:13-14) “For anything that becomes visible is light.“So that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who, through faith and patience, inherit the promises.” ( Hebrews 6:12).“Do not be slothful in zeal , be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.” ( Romans 12:11).The following Scriptures show a larger picture of what is missing in a person and align more with what we discussed earlier: To understand what someone is going through is the ultimate goal because empathy translates to compassion, which propels us into action. ![]() Though this absolutely describes an effect of slothfulness, it doesn’t quite get to the core of what leads a person there, nor does it provide us encouragement to share with someone caught in it. These are some of the examples commonly sought out to define “slothfulness.” You can see how limiting they are. “The sluggard does not plow in the autumn he will seek at harvest and have nothing.” ( Proverbs 20:4).“ Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep, and an idle person will suffer hunger.” ( Proverbs 19:15).Proverbs is the main source of these references where the words “sluggard” and “slothful” are used. The Good Book is chock-full of Scriptures that reference slothfulness and say just as much about hard work. And as a 6 th grader, I found myself caught in slothfulness for the first time. I never joined another spelling bee again, despite all my interest and potential. Despite my mom’s love and understanding, this embarrassment sparked fear in me. Though this was a completely understandable mistake and a golden learning opportunity, I was devoured by embarrassment as I tried not to cry in front of my classmates and bore the weight of my mom leaving work for this. One possible reason for being caught in sloth is fear. The dark side is a lack of motivation from the inner man. I’ll spare you reading the next section in a Darth Vader voice, but you are welcome to if you’d like. But there is another side to laziness that somehow slips under the radar. Sleep deprivation, raging hormones, malnutrition, and stress can have an obvious impact on our energy. ![]() This is certainly one aspect of laziness. He’s just part of the couch, somehow blind to everything piling up around him.” I have to ask him to do something 10 times before he reacts, and then you’d think I was inflicting pain on him. Imagine a mom describing a sleep-deprived teenager (read this in your best mom voice it’s more fun): “Oh, he’s slow moving, takes no initiative, and lives in a mess. The short definition of “slothful” is simply laziness. Slothfulness is a sinful heart condition. You see, sloth is more than just being lazy. The Greek word using in scripture is akedia, meaning the absence of care. Most of us probably do not understand the full difference of what it means to struggle with the sin of sloth versus having moments of laziness. The sin of sloth is a bit deeper than laziness, and that subtlety is found in the thing that keeps us bound up: fear. The sin of sloth is known as one of the seven deadly sins.
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