Sloths & Ants & Christians, Oh My!

“An object in motion tends to stay in motion, an object at rest tends to stay at rest.” That sentence is Newton’s First Law of Thermodynamics. Everyone has learned the lessons of this law at some point. Thinking about motion, immediately a bouncy ball comes to my mind. When you bounce a rubber ball it will go about anywhere and everywhere, however, if you were to put it in a drawer and leave it alone it would go nowhere, thus Newton’s First Law explained. We get the concept that in order to do something an action is required. When we physically choose to do nothing we become slothful. The term sloth literally translates into “without care.” Laziness is one of the most difficult sins to define. Sometimes it is hard to even credit it as an actual sin. It refers to the state of many different jumbles of perception, meaning it goes from mental, spiritual, and physical. Within each of these states, we get slothful. But what does the Bible have to say about Slothfulness?

Proverbs 6:6-11: “Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest. 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 thief.”

What we learn from the Ant:

The Bible directs us to nature in order to prove the sins it denounces. Laziness! To prove that us, as humans, all deal with laziness and intolerance to work at times. With doing this it shows how ants work. People who are in Christ sometimes deal with this spiritual laziness, not the secularly ignorant man, but the person who is neglecting God even though they know every bit of the consequences that comes from doing such. The feebleness of your power is no just reason for us not to do stuff. The ants are feeble and let's face it, annoying, but see how they work. In the ant-world, you see millions of workers, which never stop working.

In our Christian walk, we are all given the same book. We all have the standard on which to follow. It’s like this map that is placed right before us, all the steps aligned. Everything will go to plan and we will get our treasure if we follow the directions correctly. But we have to know that there is going to be some difficult routes. Some very hard obstacles we are all going to face. At times we will even see other “ treasures” that look good enough. Things that will make us want to stray away from the map we have right in the grasp of our hands. But we can’t keep our eyes off the map. Laziness can turn into neglecting our faith and choosing the world. Even with the acknowledgment of Christ and what we need to follow Him. Yet we start turning a blind eye on God because it is too difficult. We have to look at that map (the Bible) and find our treasure even though we know all the obstacles that are in our way. In life our map never will be finished, we always need to be searching for more ways we can please God. In the long run, putting every chance we have by pleasing God, regardless of all the traps there may be.

“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” 1 Corinthians 10:31

------ Natalie Corbelli