How to Fight Laziness

The sluggard says, “There is a lion outside!
    I shall be killed in the streets!” (Prov. 22:13)

Author and pastor John Piper explores what this proverb means for us, and how our minds can lull us to sleep, in an article that you can read by clicking --> here <--

Since the fall of man from God in Genesis 3, our minds have been hammered into moral confusion by the effects of sin all around us. We need God's transformative power to deterimine which comes first: chicken or egg. In other words, what really comes first: spotting a lion outside our home, or our desire to leave the garden untended for yet another day. 

If our laziness precedes, then the threat was certainly invented as a cover for indulgence. When someone tells us there are no lions outside, and that our garden is becoming an eyesore to the neighborhood, we dig our heels in and begin making a case for the potential of an unexpected lion attack! We fail to realize that our laziness preceded the idea of lions, causing our minds to latch upon the idea and strive to justify our own inclination.

Contrast that to the case where there really is a lion, and you truly want to pull those weeds in the garden. In that case, you are justified in staying inside. 

In Proverbs 22: 13, Solomon gives us these two quick lines in order to shake us out of self-deception. Such sanctification can only be accomplished in Christ with the renewing of the mind. Devotion to Christ, submission to the ordinary means of grace, and daily humble devotion will reshape our hearts in a way that cleanses us from self-deception. It changes who we are and how we see ourselves and the world. 

It leads us to the ultimate self-awareness.

Let the lyrics of this song inform your prayer:

I Want to Change by Russ Taff

Lord, You know my past
Like clay the pains of life
Have molded me
The years have brought
So many things
From examples I could see
Some good
Some bad
They're all a part of me

But I see my selfish motives
And my inconsistencies
And block upon block
The wall was built complete
Oh, please, come
And breake the wall down
And show this captive heart
How to be free

I want to be like You
I want to change
And not be trapped in the patterns
My life has set for me
I want to be like You
Please help me change
Into what I was meant to be
Until all I can clearly see
Is the loving reflection
Of You in me