BE DILIGENT

Title: Be Diligent

Scriptures: Proverbs 6:9-11 “Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones. (sluggard)
    Learn from their ways and become wise!⁷ Though they have no prince or governor or ruler to make them work, ⁸ they labor hard all summer, gathering food for the winter.

⁹ But you, lazybones, how long will you sleep? When will you wake up?
¹⁰ A little extra sleep, a little more slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest—
¹¹ then poverty will pounce on you like a bandit; scarcity will attack you like an armed robber.

You probably heard the word “funny bone” and often times it is used as an idiomatic expression “tickling someone’s funny bones” meaning to make someone laugh. But do you know the funny bone is actually  the spot at the back of your elbow where the ulnar nerve rests against the humerus (upper arm bone) that when accidentally bumping it against hard surfaces is not funny at all, it will not make us laugh but rather feel pain, I guess what makes id funny is the feeling of sudden numbness as you feel like you lose control of your forearm/lower arm and its interesting that it is not the bone actually that causes the tingling pain but the ulnar nerve located in our elbow.

In the book of Ezekiel chapter 37, scriptures mentioned “to prophesy to these dry bones, that they may live!” but not the kind of skeletons that comes alive like that was shown in 1963 film “Jason and the Argonauts”, Jason in search of the golden fleece came to the island of Sparta and fought with living human skeletons which is evil in nature.

“Dry bones” in the Scripture represents spiritual death, hopelessness, and the broken state of God’s people.

Today scripture speaks about “lazybones” an idiomatic expression for lazy people. We all at some point in our lives becomes lazy or feeling lazy and there are a number of reasons why physically we feel sluggish/lazy like lack of sleep or days of sleepless nights, excessive stress, unhealthy eating habits  or not eating healthy, lack of excercising and mañana habits (procrastination) I would say in that case or situation it is something that we shouldn’t feel guilty unless such laziness becomes you as a person, and that is my friend is the thing that we should be concerned. Last week presentation by the Youth Ministry was brilliant, noticed that laziness was written alongside with greed, hate and pride.

You probably heard too about “The Seven deadly Sin” a belief by the Roman Catholic, originally it was eight not seven and sorrow was in the list, the idea was introduced by a fourth century monk Evagrius Ponticus, then in 590 AD Pope Gregory 1 added “sloth” instead of sorrow. The list includes Anger, Envy, Gluttony, Greed, Lust, Pride and Sloth. The category of the “seven deadly sins” isn’t a biblical category. Nowhere in the Bible does God list the seven sins listed above as any “worse” or more grievous than any other sin. What the Bible teaches us is that all sins are deadly and all leads to death.

Characteristics of a Lazy person

1. Love to sleep or excessive sleep–‘¹⁰ A little extra sleep, a little more slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest. and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.

-Proverbs 19:15 “Laziness brings on deep sleep, and the shiftless go hungry.

2. Procrastination– Proverbs 20:4 “Those too lazy to plow in the right season will have no food at the harvest.

3. Full of Excuses– Proverbs 22:13 “The lazy person claims, “There’s a lion out there!
   If I go outside, I might be killed!”

4. Neglect of Duties –Proverbs 24:30-31 “I walked by the field of a lazy person, the vineyard of one with no common sense.³¹ I saw that it was overgrown with nettles.
   It was covered with weeds, and its walls were broken down.

Proverbs 18:19” He who is slothful in his work Is a brother to him who is a great destroyer.

5. Seldom finishes work / Incomplete work Proverbs 12:27 “A slothful man will not catch his prey,  but the diligent man will get precious wealth.

6. Lack of Initiative “James 4:17 “whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

Proverbs 15:19 “The way of the lazy man is like a hedge of thorns, But the way of the upright is a highway.

7. Wishful thinker-Proverbs 28:19 “He who tills his land will have plenty of bread,
   but he who follows worthless pursuits will have plenty of poverty.

Learn the ways of the Ants

Proverbs 30:24 “Four things on earth are small, yet they are exceedingly wise:

1. Ants are visionary creatures– they are aware of the importance of times and seasons. Work now and rest later.
2. Hardworking -The diligence of the ant reminds us of a lesson from our Lord. Jesus said in John 9:4, “I must work the works of Him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.” Like the ant, Jesus recognized his hour of opportunity and the work he had to do
3. Ants are self-less, self-reliance yet understood the importance of teamwork.

Proverbs 12:24 “The hand of the diligent will rule, But the lazy man will be put to forced labor.