Sloth Series

Is it the One of true beauty, His goodness, His promise of care?

Or are you letting the laugh track of other things be your source of joy? You can laugh at the Simpsons or Cobert. They can be funny, but when your joy is found in the Lord, you won’t need or want to seek lesser joys!

An indiscriminate diner may be satisfied with a cheap hamburger, but a man who knows good food, who has trained his palate to discern the flavors in a quality meal, will never again think of McDonald’s as anything but a place to find a quick, cheap lunch.

Tragically, many disciples have allowed themselves to be caught in the lie that life’s real joy can be found in cheap relationships, in empty TV relationships, even in superficial and silly religion based on noise, hype, and emotionalism.

In the book of 1 Kings, we learn of one of God’s heroes - a man named Elijah. He stayed faithful to God even when threatened by a wicked king and queen- Ahab and Jezebel. God led him to put out a challenge to see whose god would answer prayer with fire from Heaven. After a miracle moment, the idol prophets were defeated and God was raised up. Then, depleted, exhausted, he went alone into the wilderness. There on the mountainside he had an encounter that instructs us.

God sent a wind that whipped wildly, but did not speak.

He shook the mountain, but did not speak.

A firestorm singed the hair of the prophet’s beard, but God did not speak.

Then, there is this -

"And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too." (1 Kings 19:12-14, NIV)

Elijah had worked so hard he had lost the wonder. Yes, his hard work produced a kind of apathy that had overtaken his soul, so much so that he despaired of life itself. But, God met him... in the gentle whisper!

When did you last hear the voice of the Spirit?

When were you still enough to listen intently?

Third, when we know Him, we then must be about our Father’s work!

Tomlin writes, “The contemplation of good things can only take us so far as a remedy for sloth. IF that is all we do, we will soon return to idleness and the same old boredom. (When we have glimpsed the goodness of God) it needs to be followed by action, commitment to worthwhile causes, to making a difference in the world..... we must do something. “

Those who are most passionate about God are often the most effective in His service. When we live near to Him, we pick up His heartbeat, we hate what He hates, love what He loves.

The sin of sloth teaches us that the opposite of love is not hate, but rather indifference. IF God is love, then we cannot live with the apathetic refrain, ‘whatever’ on our lips and claim to be filled with His Spirit. No we will be passionate people, full of real, rich emotion, capable of laughter and tears, of love for all things good and hatred of all things evil.