I recently finished a teaching series on the seven deadly sins, saving the best for last—or so I thought. Compared to the other sins, I assumed a message on spiritual sloth would be the most enjoyable to prepare because I believed the Lord would not need to confront me on the topic. Sermon preparation is often beautifully painful as God addresses areas of my life that need transformation; I expected a gracious rebuke when preaching on pride, malice, or greed. However, as someone who wakes up early and values hard work, I anticipated that studying sloth would be painless.
But then I prepared this message. I discovered that I have been slothful. Sloth is an internal enemy that persists even amidst busyness and drive. While a packed schedule can distract us from God, it can also mask a deep-seated spiritual apathy.
I found that when the early church fathers spoke of sloth, they were addressing something much deeper than physical inactivity. Just as a busy routine does not always equate to true productivity, an active life does not eliminate spiritual sloth. We can be internally slothful while appearing externally busy because sloth is rooted in apathy rather than a lack of movement. This reality applies to adults and is equally important when addressing student busyness within ministry.
Because sloth is failure to pursue our first love, busyness can actually be a good cover for the sloth beneath the surface. Thomas Aquinas stated sloth is aversion to the divine good in us. Of this profound quote, Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung explained:
“This may sound pretty mysterious to us, but when his readers heard the phrase, ‘the divine good in us,’ they would have immediately understood it as referring to what Aquinas had just said in the questions on charity—the ‘divine good in us’ is our participation in God’s nature via the indwelling of the Holy Spirit by grace.”
Sloth is indeed deadly because it kills the joy of knowing Jesus more, of participating with him to become more like him.
Instead of being averse to the Lord’s work within us, we are commanded to “work out our salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil. 2:12–13). We are not to “work for our salvation” as Christ has done all the work for us to make us right with God. But because of what he has done, we are to work out the implications of Christ ruling over all parts of our lives.
I hated working out in high school, mainly because most of my friends could lift more than I could. And I hated being asked, “Do you even lift, bro?” But this working out is different and better. As we work out salvation, the fruit of the Spirit is seen in our lives. The Divine works in our character. This is better than muscles. This is about maturity that lasts.
The command to “work out our salvation” is sandwiched between God’s great work in us. He came here to rescue us (Phil. 2:5–11). Therefore, work out your salvation. “For it is God who is working in you to will and work according to his good purpose.” (Phil. 2:13) God is the One who does the ultimate changing of our lives as we work out our salvation. We get to enjoy and partner with the Divine who now lives within us.
To enjoy Christ and his gracious work, sloth is an enemy that must be slayed.
This article originally appeared on EricGeiger.com and is reposted here by permission.