Last week’s two posts focused on Richard Baxter’s insightful thoughts on sloth. It reminded me of a chapter from a book I wrote over a decade ago, and this week, I’d like to share that chapter with you. When Jesus tells His disciples, “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit” (John 15:8), it’s an implicit warning that laziness is one of the greatest spiritual temptations we face–and yet one I rarely hear mentioned in the church today. I’ve probably heard 25 sermons on the Sabbath for every one sermon I’ve heard that addresses laziness. 

Laziness is the great spiritual assassin of our time. It kills our bodies; it kills our bank accounts. It kills marriages and parental relationships. It kills businesses and governments. It kills everything it touches.

It usually acts slowly, taking its time to carry out its venomous assault that often proves deadly.

Laziness is more than a sin—it’s an attitude that undercuts our sense of duty to God and our obligation to our neighbor, and an attitude that wastes our lives. Julian of Norwich, a medieval anchorite, warns that “sloth and time wasting” are the “beginning of sin.”[i] Brother Giles, an early Franciscan monk, advises that “the lazy man loses this world and the other, without doing any good to himself or others.”[ii]

Laziness is an attitude that puts one’s personal comfort above all else—if I don’t feel like it, why do it? If it’s uncomfortable, why bother? If it’s not fun, what’s the use? Laziness ignores any sense of obligation and defines sin exclusively as something we shouldn’t do (conveniently forgetting all that we are commanded to do), and it ends up wasting our lives in a spectacularly nonscandalous fashion so that we don’t see just how destructive it is.

When we are neglectful with our physical bodies, part of us dies. We can avoid the wisdom of exercise and responsible eating, but we do so at our peril and accordingly will miss many opportunities to do good works. An out-of-shape Christian loses the will, inclination, and ability to enjoy much of life because physical activity becomes too taxing. He or she wants to sleep more, eat more, and lie around more rather than be truly engaged in life.

If we are lazy in parenting, we will have less of a relationship with our children. If we are lazy in marriage, we will grow distant from our spouses. If we are lazy in our business, our finances will gradually erode until we become charity cases instead of generous givers. If we are lazy in our faith, we will even drift from God. Neglect and laziness kill the best things in life.

Continue reading this free blog on Substack HERE.

The post The Silent Murderer appeared first on Gary Thomas.