Slothfulness

Bernabe Spivey relates a story: "Going down some old cement steps, I noticed an ant carrying a leaf on its back. The leaf was many times bigger than the ant. Then the ant came to a big crack in the cement that it couldn't cross. The ant stopped a moment. I wondered if the ant would turn back or proceed into the crack without the leaf. Instead, the ant put the leaf across the crack and then crossed the crack by walking across the leaf. On the other side, the ant picked up the leaf and continued on its journey."
The Bible tells us in Proverbs chapter 6, "Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise. . ." The ant is an industrious creature, but we are often sluggards that must learn valuable lessons from the ant. The ant "provides supplies in the summer and gathers food in the harvest." God's fields are "white unto the harvest," but we are not getting His job done.

As the ant used her leaf to bridge the crack in the cement, we need to be building bridges to our family, friends, and neighbors, modeling Christ before them, having Christian conversations with them, loving them, and bringing them to Jesus, but instead we are spiritually asleep and blind to the hurts, pains, and needs of people all around us. The Holy Spirit calls out to us:

"How long will you slumber, O sluggard?
When will you rise from your sleep?
"A little sleep, a little slumber,
A little folding of the hands to sleep-
So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler,
"And your need like an armed man."

The Lord confronts us and the Bible warns us many times as it does in the first part of Jeremiah 4:10,"Accursed is the one who is slack in doing the work of the LORD. . ." In many translations of this verse that English word "slack" is often rendered "slothful." God's ministry is never to be done slothfully by His people.
There are warning signs or symptoms which alert us that we are in danger of becoming slothful sluggards in our ministry for Jesus Christ. Slothful disciples epitomize: laxness, lethargy, apathy, disinterest, indifference, and complacency. Spiritual sluggards often are coldhearted, passionless, spiritless, unfeeling, and unemotional in their relationship with God and their love and concern for others, especially towards the unchurched lost.
Perhaps you are burnt out. You are tired, have worked hard for the Lord and see no results or no solutions. To be burnt out means to feel trapped. I felt this way before I came here. My vision for the church had gone. I still did my work but I really did not care. My heart was not in it. I had no sense of purpose or mission. And I felt that way for a year. I could not go on that way and so I knew that I had to make a change.

"Jesus, just like the ant, help me to live each day with passion and zeal. Regardless the setback I pray your purpose for my life would change my attitude and give me greater concern for the lost. In Jesus name-Amen!"