Sloth is popularly associated with laziness and a lack of energy. Sloths, the mammals of Central and South America, are called such because of their slow movements. We commonly associate someone who is slothful as someone who is vegged out on the couch and unable to engage themselves in any meaningful way. But when it comes to sloth as a deadly sin, there is more to it than a lack of energy.
In life there are 4 types of activities which we engage in. There are activities which are 1) important and urgent, 2) important but non-urgent, 3) unimportant but urgent, and 4) unimportant and non-urgent.
An example of something which is important and urgent is when your child injures themselves. It is important and urgent that you attend to their injury and potentially take them to the ER. We typically do not have any problem attending to these matters in life.
There are also matters which are important but non-urgent. Hopefully your children are not often injured, so it is not necessarily urgent to spend quality and quantity time with them. You are busy today. You can spend time with them tomorrow. But the problem is we live in this season of busyness and never get to the things that are not urgent. We put off and we put off till we reach a point of crisis. The matter eventually becomes something we can no longer put off. What was once not urgent is now important and urgent.
We live in the tyranny of the urgent. The problem with living in the realm of the urgent is that not everything that is urgent is necessarily important. There are emails, text messages, and voicemails screaming for your attention. There is a house to clean and lawn to be mowed. Life will always be filled with urgent matters. When we are always rushing to the urgent, we may never get to the important. We miss out on the things that are the most fulfilling.
The deadly sin of sloth is more about priorities than it is about energy. Sloth is failing to pour our energy into the things that really matter. The sin of sloth may take the form of work-a-holism and being a busy-body. The problem is we are busy with all the wrong things. It leaves us filled with stress and anxiety. The inevitable conclusion of that story is filled with great regret.
What I did not yet talk about was matters in life which our neither important nor urgent. This involves things like watching TV, playing video games, shopping, watching sports, and entertainment. We need “down time.” It is not wrong to participate in these things. The problem is when these things become our unyielding passion. The problem is when pour ourselves into our “hobbies” like nothing else. Think about the passion many people have for their favorite sports team. Could you imagine the amazing things would happen if we had the same passion for God and our families that we had for our favorite team?
The virtue which stands in opposition to sloth is obedience. The virtue of obedience is about priority and purpose. Do you live your life on purpose? And is that purpose in line with God’s purpose? Sloth is about living aimless. It is failing to engage what is truly important in life. Without any mission in life we will forever be victim of the urgent and matters not all that important.
When we look at the Savior Jesus, he lived his life on mission. He had a big mission. It was to save the world from sin. There were many things which could have distracted him from his mission. But his sole focus was the will of the Father.
When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. Luke 9:51 (ESV)
Jesus overcame the tyranny of the urgent. His purpose was what was important. It was you and me. For all those times when we have our priorities messed up, he got it right for us. We were his #1 priority. Everything decision he made was with us in mind. Because he lived out his mission so fully our lives are never beyond the point of redemption and making a new start with new priorities.
Linda Messamore says
Your message speaks directly to the desire of my heart. Thank you for your teaching and encouragement! You and your church are in my prayers! May our GOD’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven!
demerc10 says
Wonderful message, thank you for the reminder