Laziness and pride
[Proverbs 18:9, 12]
What do you think are the obstacles to success? In his book, ‘Seven Obstacles to Success’, Pastor Byeong-sam Kim listed seven obstacles hidden in success that we Christians must overcome (Internet). Two of them are “Pride” and “Neglect”. The author says that pride means to think self-centered, saying that God comes in through the door of humility, but Satan comes through the door of pride. And the author says that laziness is a sin because communication with God is cut off, complaints increase, and it leads to disconnection of relationships with all people. How should we overcome this pride and laziness?
In Proverbs 18:9, 12, King Solomon speaks of one who is slack in his work and a proud heart. Focusing on these two verses, I would like to receive a lesson from God as we meditate on laziness and pride under the title of “Laziness and pride.”
First, let’s think about ‘Laziness’.
Look at Proverbs 18:9 – “He who is lazy in his work is a brother to him who destroys” (NLV). King Solomon has already spoken several times about the lazy in Proverbs 10, 12, 13, etc. The point is that the lazy person becomes poor (10:4). The reason for this is because the lazy person doesn’t work diligently. Because he works with a negligent hand (10:4), he is bound to become poor. Although he works with the negligent hand, he diligently puts his brain to work, especially the evil and lazy slave. How do we know this? As we have already meditated on in Proverbs 15:19, the wicked do a lot of trick. Therefore, he is lazy and doesn’t think of laboring and sweating. As a result, it is said that the life of the evil and lazy slave is surrounded by difficulties such as thorns from east to west and north to south. A good example is the parable of Jesus' talents (Mt. 25:14-30). When a man went to another country, he called his servants and entrusted them with his possessions (v. 14). He gave each of them, according to their talent, gave one person five talents, another person two talents, and another person one talent (v. 15). After a long time, the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them (v. 19). He who received five or two talents left five talents and two talents each (vv. 20, 22). And the one who received one talent came and said, “’Master … I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you’” (vv. 24-25). Then the master replied, “You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest” (vv. 26-27). The other two took the talent the master gave them immediately went and traded with them, leaving five and two talents each. But the one who received the one talent didn’t immediately obey. Rather, he said, “I knew you,” and hid his one talent in the ground. This wicked and lazy servant is shrik his duty. So, in Proverbs 13:4, the Bible says, “The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing ….” That means even though he wants in his heart, he can’t get what he wants because he has lazy hands. Therefore, the lazy man not only doesn’t roast his prey (12:27), but also buries his hand in the dish because he will not even bring it back to his mouth (19:24, 26:15). Isn't it funny that even if he wants to eat meat, he should hunt and catch an animal but he only wants with in his heart and doesn’t actually hunt it? Also, who is hungry and struggles to put his hand in the bowl and raise it back to his mouth? Then like a baby, should someone feed him with a spoon? I think this is the culmination of laziness that his heart wants it, but he doesn’t even struggle to put his hand in the bowl and raise it back to his mouth. Regarding this lazy man, Proverbs 19:15 says that he is “an idle man,” that is, a person who is idle and playing. In short, the lazy man hates working with his hand (21:25). Yet the lazy man rather makes a problem. How does he make the problem? Look at 1 Timothy 5:13 – “Besides, they get into the habit of being idle and going about from house to house. And not only do they become idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying things they ought not to.” Rather, the lazy young widow goes about from house to house, becomes idlers, gossips and busybodies, saying what she ought not to do. These people were in the Thessalonica church. They were idle. They were not busy, they were busybodies (2 Thess. 3:11). These were people who like to intervene in other people's affairs, and they caused commotion by interfering with others in the church. And they were not practicing brotherly love because they were extorting taxes from some brothers in the church for the needs of their day to day life.
Those who neglect their work in this way are brothers to one who destroys” (Prov. 18:9). What does it mean? To say that the lazy man and the one who is slack are brothers means that the lazy man is a great waster (Spence-Jones). That means that the lazy man is like a prodigal man. So in Proverbs 23:21, the Bible says, “For the heavy drinker and the glutton will come to poverty, And drowsiness will clothe one with rags.” And if we look at Proverbs 12:11, the Bible clearly says, “but he who chases fantasies lacks judgment.” But what is the problem? The lazy man is wiser in his own eyes: “The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes Than seven men who can give a discreet answer” (26:16). When I think of these words, I think laziness and pride have something to do with it. In other words, the lazy man is proud.
We Christians should not be lazy. Rather, we must be diligent. Although we have already been taught many times as we meditate on the book of Proverbs, the wise Christians who fear God are diligent (Prov. 12:27, 15:19). As we must become wise Christians, not only we should diligently teach ourselves (Rom. 2:21), but also should diligently teach others the word of God, and work diligently (Prov. 16:26). Like ants, we must work diligently and cooperate with each other voluntarily even without any supervisor (6:7). And, like ants, we must prepare in advance for the future diligently (v. 8). Just as ants prepare for winter in the summer during harvest time, we must diligently prepare things to prepare in advance while thinking about the future. In particular, we must prepare diligently for our death, as well as to meet the Lord. Let us diligently prepare for the Lord's Second Coming.
Second and last, let’s think about ‘pride’.
Look at Proverbs 18:12 – “Before his downfall a man's heart is proud, but humility comes before honor.” What is pride? Pride is the opposite concept of humility (11:23, 13:10, 15:33, 16:18, 19; Matt 5:3; Luke 14:11) and is a state of mind with sense of superiority that is unsatisfied if one isn’t always at the center (of attention). But the core lesson of the Bible is that the fear of God is the greatest virtue, and pride is the greatest sin (Prov. 1:7, 6:16, 17; 1 Pet 5:5). Pride is often divided into pride of power, pride of knowledge, and pride of righteousness. Pride in the Bible arises when attention is focused on oneself without God. We must be on the lookout for people's attention to us. We must be especially wary of people's praise. In Proverbs 27:21, the Bible says, “The crucible is for silver and the furnace for gold, And each is tested by the praise accorded him.” We must glorify God when we are praised by people. In other words, we must direct people's attention to the Lord. Otherwise, we may become proud by people's praise, attention, and concern. We must always fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith (Heb. 12:2). Our eyes should always be fixed on the Lord. And we must be humble like Jesus. While being humble, we must have an attitude to always obey the will of the Lord.
We must be upright Christians who fear God. As we have already meditated on in Proverbs 8:13, the fear of God is to hate evil. God hates pride, arrogance, the evil way, and the perverse mouth. Also, as we meditated in Proverbs 16:18, the upright man who fears God leaves evil, especially pride. This is because he knows that pride goes before destruction (16:18). Not only does he leave his pride, he isn’t with the proud. The reason for this is because not only quarrels arise in pride (13:10), but also he knows that God hates the proud. Also, he knows that even if he joins hands with the proud, he will not go unpunished (16:5). Rather, the upright man who fears God humbles his heart as he is with the lowly in spirit (16:19). This is because he knows that the humble man has wisdom (11:2). Also, because he knows that God will surely show favor to the humble (3:34), he humbles his heart by being with the lowly in spirit. Another evil that the upright man leaves is “laziness” (15:19). The upright man who fears God faithfully fulfills his responsibilities. Therefore, the path of the upright man is as smooth as a well-prepared road. The reason is because he not only fears God and follows His will, but he also doesn’t procrastinate and works diligently and sweats. Like the upright man who fears God, we must be humble and diligently strive to do the will of the Lord.
The Lord wants us to be good and faithful servants. And the good and faithful servants are diligent. We must never be lazy but diligent. And the good and faithful servants of the Lord are humble. May we humbly obey the Lord's commands and be the Lord's good and faithful servants who are diligent in His work.