Before moving on from the sin of sloth, I feel I must also point out that sloth does not always look like a lager lout sprawled out on a couch in front of the TV.
Someone who is slothful may also look extremely busy to everyone else and never consider themselves slothful. Consider, for example, a man who is a workaholic. He spends every waking hour at work to provide for his family; he is industrious, responsible, a model citizen. Yet in prioritising paid employment over his role as husband, father and church member, he is perhaps avoiding things which God considers important and is neglecting spiritual disciplines which ultimately are more important than earning money.
Busyness can actually be the sin of sloth in disguise. We fill our lives with things – things which in themselves are not sinful – because we do not want the discipline of slowing down and attending to God. We think that by being busy, we are obviously doing God’s will. It’s easier to say ‘yes’ to everything than to risk offending people or to actually seek God for His specific will for our lives. Busy people must be doing something right, we affirm. If you want something doing, ask a busy person!
Underlying busyness, however, can be the desire to appear important and significant because we actually are not sure that we are important and significant. Eugene Peterson writes, ‘I let people who do not understand the work of the pastor write the agenda for my day’s work because I am too slipshod to write it myself.’ (‘The Contemplative Pastor’, Eugene Peterson) This is why Sabbath rest, a weekly reorienting in God’s presence, is crucial to spiritual health, and why we need also the daily practice of prayer and reading God’s Word, so that we can actually differentiate between our wills and God’s will, between what is important and urgent, between what is essential and what is useful. During Lent, let’s examine our schedules and fix God at the centre of every day, taking time daily to be still and know that He is God (Ps 46:10) so that our busyness stems from His strength and energy, rather than from our own.