“Workaholics – The Modern Lazy Man”

Article Written by Pastor Phil Bray

Lazy – the word generally conjures up a mental picture of an obese man in his mid-thirties sitting on a pastel-flowered couch in his mother’s basement. You can see him, can’t you? His hairy stomach sliding out from under a coffee-stained, wife-beater undershirt. He is wearing smiley-face boxer shorts and mismatched socks. A cheese curl-stained finger digs viciously into his left ear in an attempt to grasp that itching earwax. The pale blue light of the television blinks as the pictures change, highlighting his unshaven and unengaged face.
That is the picture of lazy, isn’t it? Guys who should have grown up and gotten a job years ago are still sitting at home playing video games and watching television. Yet, I would submit to you that perhaps laziness manifests itself more prevalently where we would never even think to look. Did you realize that some of the busiest people you know may, in fact, be the laziest people you know? Or perhaps you yourself may struggle with laziness, though no one would ever know it because of the pace you set in life.
You see, laziness is not merely the absence of activity – it is the refusal to fulfill one’s responsibilities. God says of the sluggard (the lazy person):
“I passed by the field of the sluggard,
and by the vineyard of the man lacking sense;
and behold, it was completely overgrown with thistles,
its surface was covered with nettles,
and its stone wall was broken down.
When I saw, I reflected upon it;
I looked, and received instruction.
‘A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest,’
then your poverty will come as a robber,
and your want like an armed man.”
(Proverbs 24:30–34)
The sluggard is suddenly overcome with poverty and want; he is in severe need, but the reason is because of his laziness, which in essence is the procrastination of his responsibilities.
The field and the vineyard need to be constantly tended and worked. If the family was to eat in that culture, they had to daily tend to this primary responsibility. I am sure there were days when this type of work was mundane, boring, or even extremely difficult. As a result, I am sure that there were days when it would have been easier and more enjoyable to go and take a nap, to play with the kids, or to go fishing than it was to take care of the field and vineyard. But I am sure also that there were days when there was the temptation to focus on the busy work of paperwork, cosmetic repairs, or household chores in order to simply do something else because the prospect of fulfilling one’s primary responsibility was simply unattractive.
Laziness is not just the absence of activity, but it is the abdication of responsibility. Sometimes we get so busy with the run and go of life that we neglect primary responsibilities until our important work is covered with the weeds of neglect. Do you ever avoid important responsibilities like loving your spouse or instructing your children in the ways of God in order to clean out the gutters? Do you ever neglect the study of the Word of God in order to finish the last bit of paperwork from the office? Do you ever neglect prayer because your day is packed full of meetings? Do you ever neglect paying the bills on time in order to do the laundry?
What I have noticed in my own deceptive heart is that, at times, I am very prone to busy laziness. I keep myself so active with busyness that I have no time to fulfill the primary responsibilities of a husband, father, and pastor. If I were to neglect the Word of God in my study in order to attend fifteen committee meetings, I may look like a workaholic, but in reality, I am lazy, for I am intentionally ignoring my primary responsibility for busywork because I simply want to procrastinate a little bit longer.
Brothers and sisters, I challenge you to throw off the mantle of the sluggard and identify those responsibilities that are primary in your life. Fulfill them first, and do not succumb to the temptation to keep yourself busy with unimportant activity. We may look like hard workers, but in reality, we are sluggards if we neglect the primary responsibilities of life through the procrastination of busyness.