So yes, today God called me lazy. I can ignore it like the lazy fool I sometimes am, or I can take it to heart and let Him use the truth to change me for the better.
If you’re anything like me, you’ve lain in bed at night wishing you could just wake up feeling different. I think that’s part of the New Year’s Resolution allure — you fall asleep on December 31 and the next morning it’s a whole new year. A fresh start. Everything is new. And it feels for a minute like we can be new, too.
And we can. The problem is we wake up tomorrow and do exactly what we did yesterday. It seems change won’t happen without … well, changing.
The hard truth about being overweight is that most of us didn’t get that way by doing all the right things. I know there are exceptions, but if we’re honest, most of us become overweight by consuming more than our bodies need, whether for a season or for a lifetime. Our habits drift away from what is healthy and good for us, and eventually our “normal” is all out of whack. Or maybe our circumstances have changed, and we struggle to adjust to them … like when we start to get older and our “french fry” metabolism becomes a “garden salad, no dressing” metabolism.
There are so many valid and real reasons for this. Culture is a huge factor and one few of us are immune to. Watch an hour-long TV show sometime and count the number of commercials that are related to food. One ad tempts you with sugary confections in supersize portions, and the next promises you unrealistic weight loss if only you commit to eating chemicals disguised as cookies.
We are also taught to love with food, and to receive food as love. Just ask my grandmother. And how many of us celebrated a success with food? In my childhood summer softball league, the winning team players received two scoops of their ice cream of choice at the end of the game. We learn to console ourselves with food, too. Ben & Jerry’s after a break-up, anyone?
All these moments slowly and almost imperceptibly lead to choices and to habits and then to consequences, and eventually we find ourselves uncomfortable in our skin, overweight, out of shape, maybe even prediabetic or struggling with heart disease, unsure exactly how we got there and wishing things were different.
The Bible has something to say about that. But I warn you, it kind of hurts. I know because I read it this morning and the Lord clobbered me over the head … again. Here’s what He says:
“As a door turns on its hinges, so does a sluggard on his bed.” Proverbs 26:14
So does a person who falls asleep one night and rolls over the next morning expecting things to be different, without ever getting up to make it so.
Ouch.
I don’t think of myself as lazy — it’s not an attractive quality. No one wants to be lazy. But when we see a need for change in our lives and we fail to act, it looks a lot like lazy.
In the same chapter of Proverbs, there are a few other verses about the behavior of the sluggard, or slothful or lazy person (no matter what translation you use, there’s no nice way to talk about laziness, it seems). I have to admit I recognize myself in them at times and I find them terribly convicting when it comes to addressing the areas in my life that need changing:
We make lame excuses. Verse 13: “The sluggard says, “There is a lion in the road! There is a lion in the streets!” But notice the sluggard never gets up to do anything about it. The Amplified Bible says it like this: “The lazy person [who is self-indulgent and relies of lame excuses] says, “There is a lion in the road! A lion is in the open square [and if I go outside to work I will be killed]!”
Some of the lame excuses I’ve used:
- I’ve already blown it today. I’ll start again tomorrow.
- But we have that big family dinner coming up. I’ll start after that.
- I don’t have time to cook something healthy.
- I’m too busy to plan meals or work out.
- I’m so stressed out.
- People are constantly offering me unhealthy food.
- Whatever. I’ll never lose weight anyway.
- No one encourages me.
There are so, so many more. I’m a master at it.
We’re stubborn about our lame excuses. Verse 16 says “the sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can answer sensibly.” Have you ever met someone (or been someone) who has one more problem for every solution they’re offered? Let’s face it: if we don’t really want to make a change, we can come up with every reason under the sun for why it’s impossible and no one else’s advice is going to make any difference.
We ignore opportunities to do something different. Verse 15 says “the sluggard buries his hand in the dish; it wears him out to bring it back to his mouth.” There are, I think, a few ways to read this. As someone with some experience overeating, I picture being so stuffed and exhausted that all I can do is sit in a haze with my hand still half in the bag of chips, and wonder how I got to this point. But that’s me … probably not everyone would relate quite the same way.
I think what Solomon actually meant when he wrote this is that this person is so lazy they can’t even feed themselves when their hand is in the food dish — they refuse to help themselves even when all the tools they need are literally at their fingertips.
Here’s where perspective offers us a great deal of power. These four verses in Proverbs 26 offer a glaring definition of what lazy looks like: sitting still when there’s work to be done. It’s not talking about resting from work, or taking some time to recharge. Those things are healthy and needed. Laziness is perpetually failing to take action in the face of clear need for it. I don’t want to be lazy. Do you? Of course not. So for me, reading this today gives me an opportunity to do something different, something other than sitting still.
The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied. Proverbs 13:4
So let’s get moving! And I don’t just mean a good workout, though if you’re so inclined, don’t let me stop you (my snowshoes are calling my name as we speak!). Have you ever noticed that in the Bible we are told again and again to walk in his way, follow his footsteps, seek him, search out his truth. The wicked, the hypocrite, the sluggard, on the other hand, are often sitting still (Psalm 26 is a good comparison). A life that seeks after God is a life of growth, of motion, of momentum. Spiritually speaking, it’s called sanctification. Growth God’s way changes the heart first, and then that change emanates through the rest of us, into our habits, our choices and ultimately our results.
That tells me that seeking Him is a good first step to changing for the better. Growth God’s way can help us change the patterns that led us to being overweight, overtired, disappointed. But it can accomplish so, so much more because His power at work within us can do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think (Ephesians 3:20).
So yes, today God called me lazy. I can ignore it like the lazy fool I sometimes am, or I can take it to heart and let Him use the truth to change me for the better. My prayer today is that we will set aside pride and self-indulgence and let Him bring about the change and growth we need most, first in the heart and maybe then on the scale.