"May 31
Laziness brings on deep sleep, and the shiftless go hungry. (19:15)
SLOTH IS PROGRESSIVE, Sloth first brings on deep sleep
cline of one's ability to work hard. Just as a person who has lost and then hunger. In other words, sloth brings a progressive de-physical conditioning cannot suddenly run a marathon, so the slothful finds him or herself less and less able to endure sustained periods of mental exertion or labor. There can be a slow, perhaps irretrievable loss of the basic attitudes and habits necessary for good work. Those include keeping commitments, get-ting work done on time, not being controlled by outside circumstances, being a self-starter who does not need reminders and coercion, and taking pride in the high quality of one's work. Once these habits are lost-or if they are never formed-it is extraordinarily hard to recapture them.
While the progress of sloth is natural, there is another gradual
process, the progress of 'sanctification,' that is supernatural and
can overcome the natural decline of sin. It is never complete in
this life (Philippians 3:12), but it entails gradual conformity, step
by step, to the likeness of Christ (Ephesians 4:23-24). Ask a friend or someone who knows you well: Am I more unselfish, more at peace, and more disciplined than I was?
Prayer: Lord, I could ask for no greater thing than sanctification. By your free grace, renew me in my whole person after Christ's image, that I might die more and more unto sin and live more and more unto righteousness 126 Amen."