Spiritual Laziness, Hebrews 6:11-12

¹¹We want each of you to show this same dillignece to the very end, in order to make your hope sure.¹²We do not want you to become lazy, but to immitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.

       When I read Hebrews 6 last night, these two verses rang out in my mind as to say "Don't lose your passion for Jesus Christ!" I took the word "lazy" here to point to being spiritually lazy. As in, it's easier to sit around and think about your situation than it is to find a quiet place to pray about it. It's easier to just chow down than to thank God for the blessing of having enough food to eat. It's easier to just mouth the lyrics of songs than it is to think about what they mean and focus your heart and mind on Jesus. It's easier to just pick up your Bible and read without praying first for wisdom. It's easy to go through the motions. Jesus warned against this in the book of Revelation, when he rebuked the church of Ephesus for losing their first love. They did all the good works, but without the right heart.

Here are some perceivable problems with being spiritually lazy:

• When we, for even one minute, put off serving God, what are we filling that time with?
  
  • TV?
    
  • Radio?
    
  • Movies?
    
  • Hobbies?
    

       (These things are not bad in and of themselves, but when we give up our time of serving God and having that close intimate fellowship with Him to do these sorts of things, we are not only giving up a time of fellowship, but we are filling our minds with more worldly things, things that will not build us up spiritually.)

• When we give in to one temptation/urge to fulfill the immediate needs of our flesh vs. the needs of our spirit, Satan will come to us again and again and try to get us to make further compromises and sacrifice more of our fellowship time with God.
  
• When we give up our time with Jesus, our time of close fellowship (the time when we grow the most spiritually), we are not being built up spiritually and we eventually start to become stagnant and unfruitful in our walks with Jesus. Sure, you're going to Heaven, but you're not bringing others to salvation! Maybe Satan can't take away your salvation, but he can get us to compromise our relationship with the Lord to the point where we aren't fulfulling the Great Commission-- To spread the Gospel!

       Little compromises- "eh, I'm too tired..." or "eh, I'm too lazy..." or "I'm too busy..."-- lead to bigger and bigger compromises, starting a snowball effect of compromise in our spiritual lives. I believe it's safer to just steer clear of snowballs of any size! Jesus said that to those who are faithful in the little things, greater responsibilities will be given him.

The author of Hebrews tells us that we should not be lazy, but to keep on running in faith and patience.

• Even if you don't feel like doing something (ie- going to church, reading your Bible, praying), do it anyway, praying in faith for God to change your heart so that you are not just going through the motions, but you are serving God with a right heart.
  

    Every time I have felt too lazy or too tired to do something such as pray or attend church or reflect on God's goodness and mercy, and I've asked God to help me to overcome it so that I could worship Him in Spirit and in Truth, He has answered my prayers and delivered me, and given me an awesome time of learning, worship, and prayer!

• Be patient too! Don't sit in the pew at church waiting for the music to end, then waiting for the sermon to end, then tapping your fingers on your steering wheel waiting for the car ahead of you to get out of the parking lot so you can go home...

       A lot of times I will find myself impatiently waiting for life to happen. That sounds silly I know, because obviously life is happening all the time. But how many times have you found yourself just thinking about what will happen later, what will happen tomorrow... What will happen when this promotion goes through, or when the weekend arrives... When THIS happens then I'll have fun, then I'll be happy, then I'll really pay close attention to what God has to say to me. Right now I'm just waiting for "then" to happen.
       Okay, so maybe this isn't a conscious thought, but I sure go through this a lot, whether conscious or not! I find myself just doodling away minutes, thinking away hours, and wishing away days. I spend too much time daydreaming about what God is going to do in my life in the future, and and not enough time focusing on what God is doing now! We need to patiently live out each minute, not ignoring what's happening in the present, but relishing each breath God gives us, living out each moment in His perfect will!

Philippians 4:6-7 says,

⁶Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

       The Bible makes it clear that we are supposed to dilligently continue in faith, and seek His will patiently through prayer and petition. It's not good for us to constantly be looking forward, nor is it good to look back to the past all the time. God wants us to focus on what He wants for us now, not later.
       It says somewhere that the only moment that is guaranteed to us is this present moment. We cannot expect there to be a tomorrow, or even a later. So why waste time now? Why put off having that close relationship with God now, when now might be your last moment before you stand before the throne of God Himself? What do you want to be doing with your last few breaths on earth? Sit around being lazy, busy, or tired, thinking about what you will do later when the time is right, or seek His heart and will for your life, and with all your heart praise His name?