Laziness

Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor (John 4:38).

People are, by nature, lazy. Why were tractors invented? Because they made farming less back-breaking. Why were washing machines invented? Because they made doing laundry less time consuming. Most inventions are the result of people wanting to make life easier, less demanding of time and effort.

But wanting life to be easy has created many problems for our nation. Students rebel against doing homework. There are people who would rather accept government assistance than try to earn a living. Employers constantly lose profits because workers arrive late, leave early, and take longer breaks than they are scheduled for.

Laziness afflicts the Church as well. People won’t join a church if they are asked to go through instruction first. Couples are reluctant to participate in premarital counseling. Kids in confirmation don’t want to memorize Bible verses. Adults can’t find the time to attend Bible study and refuse to serve on a committee. There’s too much going on in my life, they might say, but really it boils down to this—they don’t want to make the effort.

Of course, our efforts cannot earn us access to heaven. Paul reminds us over and over again that salvation from sin and death is Jesus’ free gift to everyone who loves Him. Jesus did something unimaginably painful and demanding for us when He died to pay for our sins; He did something that only God could do, and as sinful mortals we certainly cannot repay Him. But we can honor Him by showing our gratitude.

There are people on government assistance who are content to cash their checks and take it easy. But what if they got involved in some community work as a volunteer, as a way to express their thanks to the country that is helping them? In a sense, we are all Welfare recipients—without the gift of God’s mercy offered through Jesus, we would be eternally dead in our trespasses and sins. We receive God’s welfare check every time Jesus forgives us. But while we cannot pay Him back, we can show our appreciation by doing volunteer work—by telling our friends and loved ones about Jesus, by getting involved in the work of His church and supporting it with our time and money. When you work hard for Jesus, He looks at your efforts as an expression of love and devotion.