Jesus Empowers Us to Kill Laziness

Proverbs 6:9-11

How long will you lie there, you sluggard?  When will you get up from your sleep?

A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest-

and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man.

Laziness destroys lives and undermines every good intention.  Look at how this section begins.  It is almost a desperate plea to get the sluggard to do...something.  It is so easy to get caught in the trap of laziness.  It's so much easier to sleep in than it is to get up early.  It is so much easier to sit and watch t.v. than it is to get up and do what needs to be done.  This is the negative pull of our sinful nature.

This lazy attitude is fueled by our selfish, self-indulgent sinful nature.  We naturally seek ease and comfort over work.  In our day, laziness takes on many other forms than just oversleeping and resting too much.  Laziness can be found in over entertaining yourself, a lack of self-discipline, not thinking about or respecting others, not serving others while expecting them to serve you, etc.   Ultimately laziness is played out in an unwillingness to serve.

Think about it.  When you think of someone as being lazy, what are they not doing?

They are not serving others, but they are instead indulging their own selfishness.  A lazy person doesn't pick up after himself because he knows someone else will do it.  The lazy person doesn't do quality work because he doesn't really care; and after all, if someone wants it done better, they will fix it.  The lazy person is always trying to do just enough to get by.  The problem is that "just enough" is never enough.  Trying to sneak by in life on the bare minimum is a loser's game.  

Sadly, when you try to help a lazy person they get very defensive because they have convinced themselves that they are actually a top performer.  Lazy people don't value honest feedback about their performance.  They instead choose to play the victim.  They are constantly being "picked on" by those mean producers and performers.  They actually view performers, anyone with a strong work-ethic, as being arrogant and "just trying to make them look bad".  

The reality is that no one has to put any effort into making lazy people look bad, because they spend their whole day making themselves look bad.  They will clock into a job for 8 hours and hardly get anything done, and of what they do get done much of it is done wrong.  This is why Solomon says, "and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man."  What company can afford to keep the lazy person around, especially if she is unwilling to be coached to improve her effectiveness and competence?

The same can also be said for organizations that tolerate laziness and incompetence.  If a company adopts Tolerance as a core value it will not be competitive in the market place for very long.  If it is able to somehow stay in business, it will only do so as a bottom-feeder in its industry.  It will never be among the elite in its industry.  This is true for one very important reason:  Top performers and high achievers will not tolerate a culture of laziness and incompetence for very long.  Eventually they will leave.  Sadly many companies don't intentionally develop their people to eliminate this aspect of the Five Laws of Decline (watch the short video for Orrin Woodward's teachings on the 5 Laws of Decline).

How then do you develop work-ethic, kill laziness, and fight the Five Laws of Decline?

That is the million-dollar question.  Would you like the million-dollar answer?

FIX YOUR THINKING!!!!

Pretty profound stuff, huh?  That isn't meant to just insult your intelligence, it's also intended to actually get you thinking.  Your terrible thinking is what is responsible for your laziness and your terrible results in life (or in your company/organization)!

Here is how you fix it:

• Start a self-directed education program.
• Read 15-30 minutes every day.
• Antioch Academy for Christian Discipleship TOP 5o Book list
• LIFE Leadership TOP 50 Book List
• Listen to at least 3 educational audios every day.
• Antioch Academy Audio Library
• Rascal Radio (LIFE Leadership)
• Christ for Disciplers Podcast
• Gird Up! Podcast
• Reduce your t.v. time to less than 2 hours/day.
• Get time around high achievers/top performers.
• Leadership Challenge Group 
• Bible Study
• Classes/Workshops 
• Set a goal. (personally or professionally)
• Study God's Word (the Bible) 30-60 minutes at least 3 times/week.
• "Do what you do better. Do more of what you do."- David Schwartz (The Magic of Thinking Big)
• Toughen Up!  Stop running from pain, discomfort, and challenges!
• Look for ways to serve someone else EVERY DAY!
• ...whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31)
• "Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet.  I have set an example that you should do as I have done for you...Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them." (John 13:14-15,17)

Note that this list will help you kill laziness and improve your competence and effectiveness in life, but doing these things will not earn you a place in heaven.  There is nothing that you can do to earn heaven.  I want to make this very clear because I did quote Scripture at the end of the "How to" list.

The only way to heaven is through faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior.  That is a free gift given to us by God.  It is only by His grace and the gift of the Holy Spirit working faith in our hearts, that we are able to believe in Jesus.  He has done it all!

This needs to be our ultimate motivation for everything that we do in life.  We should strive to live a disciplined life of service as a "thank you" to God for the precious gift of Jesus that He has given to us all.

That is ultimately how you kill laziness!

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

Jason Fredrick