Now we charge you, brethren, in the name and on
the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah)
that you withdraw and keep away from
every brother (fellow believer) who is slack in
the performance of duty and is disorderly,
living as a shirker and not walking in accord
with the traditions and instructions that
you have received from us.
2 Thess. 3:6 Amplified Bible
 
One who is lazy will slip his rocks into your pocket
when you are not aware and you will find yourself
walking weary and stumbling . . .
wondering what happened to you.
You will find your own field in weedy disorder while
the garden of the lazy will bloom.

Sheep cannot bear burdens or pull loads.
Sheep can only sustain their own load of wool.
Nothing more.

Paul's Example

Paul was constantly committed to being of
no burden to the churches he led,
ever setting the example himself of
total personal responsibility.
Receiving only from others what
he had to . . . he made it his business to serve
and though he had the highest position as apostle
he never demanded to be served, only followed.

For even the Son of Man
did not come to be served,
but to serve . . . .

Mark 10:45

As Paul followed the Master's example, he called
the church to follow the same . . . .

and when I was present with you
and was in need, I was not a burden to anyone;
for when the brethren came from Macedonia
they fully supplied my need, and in everything
I kept myself from being a burden to you,
and will continue to do so.
2 Corinthians 11:9

And in this letter to the Thessalonians, Paul makes
clear one of the major reasons for separation.
The sloth of one, defeats all.
 
Laziness is Wickedness

The Lord Jesus told this remarkable story called
the Parable of the Talents and revealed for all time
the cause of fruitlessness.

So I was afraid and went out and
hid your talent in the ground.
See here is what belongs to you.

His 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?
Matthew 25:14-30

What the servant (believer) named
understandable fear and careful management,
the Lord called wicked and lazy.

Laziness is contempt for God
and scorn for His character.
And wickedness is the secret origin of laziness.

God has the right to expect that His gifts
be multiplied for His increase.

Multiplication is the nature of the Kingdom
and happens through giving all away.
The wicked own God's gifts
counting Him as miserly and hard.
The lazy hoard what He gives and so
lose all they save.

Take away the talent from him and
give it to the one who has the ten talents.

The Kingdom of God is the
great adventure of responsibility.
Of tapping the vast wealth of the Kingdom
by obedient generosity.

The lazy, by doing nothing, make themselves
unfit for Kingdom participation.

Lovers of self

The lazy, just another type of lovers-of-self,
by their neglect and invasion, disturb the
Center which belongs only to the King.

The King will not be unthroned.
The Head will not be displaced.
And we are called to fierce devotion not only
to the Lord Christ, but to His Position.
And if separation is His calling
to defend His Place against usurpers,
then - no matter the cost - we must separate!

 Previous/Next in Series

Copyright © 2002 Martha Blaney Kilpatrick