Are we lazy to drink deeply from the gifts God has given us?
Proverbs 26:15
15 A sluggard buries his hand in the dish;
he is too lazy to bring it back to his mouth.
This week, as we think of ‘sloth’, Proverbs paints a striking picture. The sluggard who sees something good (I picture a pot of honey!). It looks sweet to the taste, satisfying, delicious… he digs his hand in, the cool honey running through fingers, but he’s too lazy to bring the honey up to his mouth! He misses the ultimate enjoyment of the honey… even though he knows how good it is!
It’s interesting to reflect on the Christian disciplines that we’ve been given to help us in our faith, and how often I am lazy to actually make any use of them. Bible reading, prayer, Christian community, asking honest questions, time out, topical books, Growth Group, all these things remind me who God is, who I am, and the task we’ve been given to love God and others. I forget these everyday and I am need constant reminding. I know how good the honeypot is to reset my focus, energy, desires and anxiety, but struggle to make use of it.
Jesus says to the Samaritan women at the well in John 4:14: “whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
Jesus gives us His Spirit, and the Christian disciplines for us to drink deeply of, that we might find meaning and life.
It would be a lie to say I’m too busy. Oh yes I fill up my time, but a double episode of ‘Fraiser’ probably shouldn’t take priority over some of the disciplines I know are great for me.
How are you going?
Head: What disciplines help you with your faith?
Heart: What makes it hard/competes for your time and what consequences does this have?
Hands: How might you drink deeply today?
Prayer: Thankyou Jesus for all that you’ve done for me in securing life for eternity. Thanks for the promises you’ve made and the mission you’ve now given me to live for you and love others. Please help me to remember this everyday through building good habits around Christian disciplines, and by drinking deeply from them. Please help me by the power of your Spirit, Amen.
A song to listen to: Spirit of Jesus
Brad Cole
