Thoughts for the Day

A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches,
and favour is better than silver or gold.
The rich and the poor have this in common:
the Lord is the maker of them all...

Thorns and snares are in the way of the perverse;
the cautious will keep far from them.
Train children in the right way,
and when old, they will not stray.

Whoever sows injustice will reap calamity,
and the rod of anger will fail.
Those who are generous are blessed,
for they share their bread with the poor.
Drive out a scoffer, and strife goes out;
quarrelling and abuse will cease

The eyes of the Lord keep watch over knowledge,
but he overthrows the words of the faithless.
The lazy person says, ‘There is a lion outside!
I shall be killed in the streets!’

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

This section of Proverbs from Chapter 22 is full of good advice, but I could not resist looking at the last two lines: 'The lazy man says, "There is a lion outside! I shall be slain in the streets!"' What on earth does this crazy proverb mean, and how can it possibly be applied to our life? Well a great Baptist preacher once said that this text and another from Proverbs 26.13 ('The lazy person says, ‘There is a lion in the road! There is a lion in the streets!"') shows "the slothful man as having something to say, and there are no people that hav0e so much to say as those that have little to do. Where nothing is done much is talked about." (Charles Spurgeon).

In all the parish work that I have done over the years I have noticed that those who talk much in discussion are often not those who do the work. Good ideas often get thrown up in Church meetings, but when it comes to who will carry them out there can be a dearth of offers, and it's left to the predictable one or two workers to pick up the slack. One Church council (and only one) was so bad that a policy of "Make a suggestion and offer to help carry it out!" policy was instituted.

The lazy man or woman exaggerates their fear and their reasons why they cannot do some work. After all, in this case, his excuse is quite mad since lions don't inhabit towns but live in woods or fields. We are not talking about someone who has agoraphobia, that is a fear of leaving the house, we are speaking of someone who is too lazy to work. If we apply this to our own life as a Christian how does this play out? Well, we are speaking of those who are "sleepers" in the faith, those who do nothing to enhance it or help spread that faith. As of last year, Christianity had approximately 2.4 billion followers in the world. It's the largest religion amongst the 8 billion people around the world. But how many of them are sleepers crying "There's a wolf in the street!"?

Lord Jesus Christ,
You called Your Disciples to action,
and You call us to work as well.
Let us not just see our faith as 'going to Church',
but show us how to become active supporters,
sharing Your message of love with others.
May we learn to be awake and not asleep,
ready to cope with any opportunity.
Amen.