Confessions of a Lazy Lint Licker...

I love the orbits commercial where the women are arguing and one of them goes, "Who are you calling a cootie queen you lint licker?" This my friends is what we call a euphemism. It's a nice way of saying a not so nice thing. Well folks, spiritually, we are lint lickers. Translation? We need to get off our butts and do something! In Jesus' ministry here, do you think he was lazy? Um, no. He understood the work that was given Him. He was a servant at the very core (Mark 10:45)

Jesus didn't wait until He felt like working. If He had, we'd all be doomed because I'm sure He would never have "felt like" going to the cross. He didn't wait until everything was "just right." He's not Goldilocks, He's Jesus! These excuse breed complacency, procrastination, and laziness.

As a college student, I know first hand just how far procrastination can go. When your fifteen page paper is due tomorrow and it's nine o'clock at night and you are just starting, you are in serious trouble my friends. The old slogan of work first, play later gets thrown out the window. But we get this way in our spiritual lives as well. We say, Oh, I'll do my quiet time later. Oh, I'll talk to that person later. Oh, I'll go to church next week. So why do we get this way?

I think sometimes, it's because our labors on this earth are in vain. Why does everyone hate group projects so much? Because there is always one person who never pulls their weight but gets full credit anyway. It seems like you did all that extra work, but you don't get anything for it. But God doesn't work like this. 1 Corinthians 15:58 tells us that our labor in the Lord is never in vain. It may require a lot of patience, but it will pay off. God has meaningful work to be done.

Another reason we get lazy is because our hearts aren't in it. To this God says "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men." (Colossians 3:23) I'm got going to lie, this verse convicts like no other. God is Everything to us. And He deserves our everything. One hundred percent. Nothing less. Because He gave His all, so it only seems right that He commands us to give our all. Well, now I feel bad for being a sour batch of grapes.

The motto of every gym in America today: "you only get out of something what you put into it." That holds true for our spiritual lives as well. You only get out of your spiritual life, out of a church, out of a worship service, out of a sermon, even out of your relationship with God, what you put into it.

In fact, doing good works which God prepared for us to do is part of our purpose (Ephesians 2:10) Salvation is a free gift, but if that is all that you get out of Jesus' death and resurrection, then you are short-changing yourself. Jesus died that we might have life and have it to the fullest (John 10:10). He desires us to become sanctified -to become more like Him in our lives every day. To grow in grace.

There are 168 hours in each week. In a given week, we spend about 40 hours working, 56 hours sleeping, 29 hours eating and taking care of ourselves and our families, 41 hours on leisure activities, and only 2 hours on spiritual activities, including church. That just might be the problem. This is not investing in our spiritual lives.

We all need days off. We are not called to be workaholics. That's why God gave us the Sabbath. But we need to stop being on a permanent Sabbath. There is plenty of work to be done. There is a relationship with God to build. There are relationships with others to build. There is a world of unsaved people that need to hear The Truth! And even if you can't physically go on a mission trip or afford to give, you can pray. Is that not why we have mouths, but to praise? Is that not why we have lips, but to speak the truth? Is that not why we have ears, but to listen to the needs of others? Eyes, but to see what God is doing? And hands, but to do?

So, it's time we stop being lazy lint licking losers. Because the one that gave His all, deserves our all. Matthew 9:37 "Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few."