Whoever is slothful will not roast his game, but the diligent man will get precious wealth. Proverbs 12:27
Clearly the person who is slow to start and is easily distracted won’t be able to finish. Here the sluggard finds some food and brings it home, but then he loses interest and moves on to something else. So, he never gets around to roasting his game.
The pattern of this person’s life is that he is always moving on to something else. Something new catches his eye and off he goes, leaving behind him a trail of unfinished business—things he started but did not continue and never completed.
This is surprising because the sluggard is hinged to his bed! The irony is that the person who keeps putting off what needs to be done never rests. God rested when He completed His work. And the price of putting off what God has called you to do is that you never really rest.
“The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied” (Prov. 13:4). Notice that this proverb is about the soul. Not only are the barns of the sluggard empty, the soul of the sluggard is empty as well. Yes, laziness will empty your wallet, but it will do something even worse—laziness will destroy your soul. Avoiding what God has called you to do is soul destroying.
“The soul of the sluggard craves.” The sluggard wants a harvest but he won’t do what it takes to get it, so he gets nothing. This is the profile of an unproductive person, and it is given to us as a warning. If you are slow to start, and are easily distracted, you won’t finish and you will not rest.
Is there an important project or initiative you’ve left undone? What is one thing—a phone call, an email—or some step that you could take today to move it forward?
