Getting older? Or Getting better?

How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man. A worthless person, a wicked man, goes about with crooked speech, winks with his eyes, signals with his feet, points with his finger, with perverted heart devises evil, continually sowing discord; therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly; in a moment he will be broken beyond healing. (Proverbs 6:9–15)

This is a discouraging passage for a person who has always been industrious and is now aging and wants to nap more than be busy. But there is a difference between the sluggard and the octogenarian. The older person is tired, not lazy, still wants to be doing things, is not trying to trick others into doing everything for him.

Yet those sluggard ideas pop up. My old nature would shirk responsibilities and complain about the work anyone else did for me. I’d never be satisfied and never take on hard challenges.

It is a challenging season. I had an older friend who used to say, “I don’t know how to be ninety.” At the time, I didn’t understand, but now realize the conflict. My body and my mind do not agree with each other. Had I been a sluggard all my life, this would not be an issue. 

New friends are helpful. One of my neighbors is ninety and going strong. Her mind is sharp and she is busy with family and happy all the time. It is possible to know how to be ninety. I’m not there yet, but should the Lord grant me that many birthdays, He has already given me a few role-models, but most of all, Himself:

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:1–8)

This is such a far cry from being a sluggard who stirs up trouble and cares for no one but herself. 

Lord Jesus, it is okay to have a nap, but not to avoid responsibilities. Sleep is okay for those who are tired from labor. You bless those who think good thoughts, and who are not always stirring up trouble. Your goal for me is even better than being “a sweet little old lady” — You want me to be to be like You.

Off? On? Pause?

My household employs two robots. Nothing fancy. One of them will dust and wash the floors. The other is a vacuum cleaner that magically stops itself from falling downstairs and redoes edges and corners just to be sure all the dust is gone.

While people like having robots to make their work easier, no one wants to be one, even though some of us go into “automatic” mode when doing routine chores. Being a robot is not God’s choice for us either. He says this:

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 1:3–8)

This passage tells me that the Lord made full provision for my spiritual life but all the divine resources He gives do not make me a robot. I am responsible to avail myself of His blessings. Otherwise I will be “ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

My robots are not living things, yet like me, they are totally useless if I don’t plug them into a power source and push the right buttons. That is, when God calls me to serve someone, I need to get off my chair, lift my hands, move my body so I am doing what He asks me to do, relying on His power to do it.

This seems simple stuff yet it is not always that simple. The above passage mentions corruption in the world caused by sinful desire. It also mentions that faith needs to be supplemented with virtue (the word means ‘excellence’) and virtue with knowledge. That takes work. It does not come with the push of a button. Neither do the other qualities that enable Christians to be effective and fruitful. Knowing Jesus is just the beginning.

This is not new stuff, but today I need to be reminded of my responsibilities. I feel lazy, full of ‘I wants’ and not particularly eager to hear any commands from God. This is not burn out that comes from intense obedience; it is an attack of “I-don’t-want-to-it is” that comes from the flesh.

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Lord, I confess my lack of ambition toward You today. I’d do better if I was a robot, but that is not how life with You works. Prayer is needed, as is the Holy Spirit. You have done Your best. At the least, I need to push a few buttons.

Today’s thankful list . . .

- the amazing promise from God that I have all I need.

- a restful day; outside blanketed with snow and inside blanketed with a quilt.

- my hubby is purging his office file cabinets.

- another charity quilt top finished.

- a brief chat with our granddaughter in Mexico.

- leftovers and not having to cook.

Waiting or Lazy?

I can think of many reasons for spiritual retirement. One is my age. I’m past the usual age for work retirement so that seems a good reason. Besides, I’ve been very busy for many years, taking on many different roles and challenges. Right now, being an intercessor, writing this blog, and being involved in two small groups seems to be all God is asking of me. He knows how health and meds have resulted in less energy.

Another reason is circumstance. We moved four years ago to a new church with hundreds attending and where active service needs little recruitment. I’ve washed dishes and served communion, again thinking this is all God wants from me right now.

However, Chambers drops this on me today . . .

“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:24–25)

He calls this as he sees it; those who are not busy stirring up others, meeting together, and encouraging them are “spiritual sluggards,” or in other words, spiritually lazy. He says, “To live a remote, retired, secluded life is the antipodes of spirituality as Jesus Christ taught it.”

My background makes remote, retired, and secluded an easy life. I’m seldom lonely, contented with very little, and can keep busy. Writing is a solitary task. However, no one has ever called me lazy, even though Chambers is saying I could be. I’ve to determine if this is the voice of the Holy Spirit or not . . .

Chambers says that “injustice and meanness and ingratitude and turmoil” can push a person into being a spiritual sluggard who wants to use prayer and Bible reading for retirement, for using God to gain peace and joy rather than actively bringing the Lord Jesus Christ into the lives of others. Spiritual sluggards just want to enjoy Him and are making a cause out of what should be an effect. I get that. The world is in a mess and all the stuff that goes on makes me want to hide.

Also, Chambers quotes 2 Peter 1:13 where Peter says, “I think it right . . .  to stir you up by way of reminder” to add that we are disturbed when convicted by someone who is filled with spiritual activity.

Again, he has a way of using Scripture for a guilt trip. However, this verse is in context of those who are growing in spiritual development by means of spiritual disciplines. Peter is not provoking others to service, but to build in their lives the qualities that make them ready, fit, and willing to serve.

Chambers also says that active work and spiritual activity are not the same thing. I agree. I can be busy with people without the leading of God’s Spirit if I listen to personal reasons and motivations rather than the Lord stirring me to do it.

From all this, I gather that spiritual sluggishness is the attitude of not wanting to be stirred up, only wanting to do as little as possible or wanting to do what I want to do, or what makes me look good. It seems to me the concern should not be a list of what I am doing, but more an examination of why I do it.

I spent the day thinking about this and asking God if He wants me to continue as is, or does He want me to do far more because I’m a spiritual sluggard as Chambers suggests. This is what I heard from Him . . .

“Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!” (Psalm 27:14)

God’s power, not mine

Thinking of the challenges of life as a golfer thinks about his game has been a good illustration for me. Most golfers return to the links, not because they are always making perfect shots, but because they do so now and then. That is, they know they can do better, so they persist.

A Christian persists too, but for different reasons. We are given the power of God. As He told Paul: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)

As Chambers notes, we must never measure our spiritual capacity by education or by intellect or any other natural resources. As suggested in the parable of the talents (Matthew 25), God gives those resources to us. Our capacity is measured by the promises of God. The servants who receive talents also must rely on God for their use. To do otherwise is a blatant declaration against the power of God.

The one servant who proved unfaithful said things like: “You expect more than You give me the power to do” and “You demand too much of me” and “You are too demanding and I cannot obey You.” These are expressions of doubt, even blasphemy. When God gives us the Holy Spirit, He expects that power to be used, not our own power which compared to His is mere and measly weakness. The only reason for not living in His power is an independent spirit, which is the definition of sin.

God said I am to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, then He will add all these things. The context of that promise refers to material needs, but the rest of Scripture is clear: God will not leave me helpless when He asks of me a challenging or even a small task. Paul said, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13) Paul multiplied his talents because he believed in the power and promises of God and lived accordingly.

For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. (2 Corinthians 1:20)

Chambers says that lazy people express an independent attitude every time they fail to get up and move. He also says that our capacity in spiritual matters is measured by the promises of God. I conclude that if I am not living to my capacity, it is because I doubt the promises of God. My score card may disappoint me at times, but because of the One who sent me out, and because of His grace that I’ve made a few well-placed shots, I know that I can do whatever He wants me to do.

Puzzles and warnings

Daniel 11:1–12:12; 2 Thessalonians 3:1–18; Job 42:10–17

Years ago someone instructed me to read the Bible until God impressed me with something, then write what I noticed in the passage. This year’s devotional book is called “Connect the Testaments.” Many days I’ve seen how they old and the new relate to one another. Today, these three readings may have connections that I do not see, but God impresses me with these truths.

Why godly people fail

Christians and the general public are shocked when a prominent Christian leader falls into sin. I’m shocked when it happens to me, a rather ordinary person. Jesus is our Savior so why does He not save us from our sinful selves? Today a verse stands out from in the midst of Daniel’s prophesies about the future. He says this: “ . . . and some of the wise shall stumble, so that they may be refined, purified, and made white, until the time of the end, for it still awaits the appointed time.” (Daniel 11:35)

Some of the characteristics of my sinful nature are forgiven and cleansed by a simple confession. Others are so deeply ingrained that only a gross failure will persuade me to let go of them. From this verse, I see that stumbling into a particular sin is part of the salvation process. When it happens, it is the beginning of God’s refinement for He will use the failure to change my attitude toward that particular “I will rule my own life” attitude. This becomes a painful but necessary ‘stumble’ to show me that I cannot rule anything.

Increased knowledge does not mean we know everything

The Bible says that in the last days, there will be “a time of trouble . . . .” but God’s people “will be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.” (Daniel 12:1–4)

Certainly knowledge is increasing. Certainly God’s people are actively turning others to Christ. But the prophecies of Daniel are a puzzle and exactly what will happen at the end of things is hidden from us all. Only those who know the Lord even realize that God has declared truth, but that is about all we understand about the future.  It is as God said to Daniel: “For the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end. Many shall purify themselves and make themselves white and be refined, but the wicked shall act wickedly. And none of the wicked shall understand, but those who are wise shall understand.” (Daniel 12:9–10)

Job’s disaster turned to blessing

The remaining child of the Alberta family who lost all three daughters in a farm accident said, “If God can make good out of bad, then something awfully good must be coming.” This faith is a gift from God, something that shone through even while Job struggled to understand what was happening to him. He was never told that his faith was being tested, but I suspect he knew as soon as, “The Lord restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. Then came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and ate bread with him in his house. And they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him . . . .” (Job 42:10–12)

I can relate. When God tests my faith, I’m oblivious to the why of the trying events, but when blessings come afterwards, I know God is using all things for my good. He is wise; His ways are higher than mine.

Warning to the lazy

In all of this, I could sit and do nothing, but God gives another message that is for every generation. Paul heard that some Christians were walking in idleness and was inspired by the Lord to say they were, “not busy at work, but busybodies.” He commanded and encouraged them in the Lord Jesus Christ to “do their work quietly and to earn their own living” and to “not grow weary in doing good.” This was so important that, “If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person, and have nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed. Do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.” (2 Thessalonians 3:11–15)

God isn’t talking only about earning a living. I’m not supposed to sponge off the generosity of others, but this also hints at my responsibilities as His servant who is supposed to obey His commands. While I cannot do all of them all the time, I need to pay attention to the Holy Spirit, gladly and energetically never letting my laziness rule instead of Him.