Reflection 11: What You Can Expect From Life: According to LAZINESS

12 “The hearing ear and the seeing eye, The Lord has made them both. 13 Do not love sleep, lest you come to poverty; Open your eyes, and you will be satisfied with bread. 14 ‘It is good for nothing,’ cries the buyer; But when he has gone his way, then he boasts. 15 There is gold and a multitude of rubies, But the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel.” ~ Proverbs 20: 12-15

The Level of Laziness

It is truly amazing how many people disassociate themselves from the word, “LAZINESS”, and instead use excuses to mask their behavior with the words, “Relaxation or Freedom”. People in the Western World cling to their freedoms and in many instances forget that those freedoms are not free but binding and carry a heavy cost. We have the idea that relaxation is freedom, freedom from responsibility, freedom from work, freedom from life and reality. There is the real threat that though we all need to unwind, it becomes a habit and laziness takes root and takes over your life. Many people fall asleep in there life both personal and spiritual. The truth is if you are lazy in your personal relationships; be it with your parents, friends, siblings, relatives, spouse, children, or in your professional life; with your co-workers, boss, or your career opportunities, then your also lazy in your spiritual life with God. Ask yourself this one question and depending upon the answer you will see clearly your level of laziness, “Would you die for Jesus?”  I know… I know… many will use the argument that this is not necessary. There is no reason to lay your life down for God. But is that the truth or is it the deception? Think about it from the view point of God; He made humanity, he made the Earth, the stars, the universes, He alone made everything we know and do not yet know of, and seeing that God was this proactive to send His only son to die for you and me, then shouldn’t we return the favor and live for Him? Shouldn’t we then defend His word, His promises, and teach others to live as God would have us all live? Is it not to much to expect that we become just as proactive in spreading the, “Good News”, as He was in our salvation? See many people refuse to do the right thing out of laziness and use the excuse that it wasn’t their fault, they refuse to do simple tasks and use the excuse that it wasn’t their turn, and when the mayhem and destruction rains down they again refuse to see the signs plainly written upon the wall and go into full fledged denial and say, it wasn’t their idea to do this or that. Wouldn’t it be easier to say, “Damn, I was lazy in that instance.”?  But instead of accepting the responsibility for their part, they refuse and in that refusal is found the roots of laziness. It is easier to deny the obvious truth, because then you don’t have to take action which in many instances could become labor intensive; but yet would be the right thing to do. It is easier to fall asleep in your life and close the door and ignore the hurt and bad feelings you personally have caused rather than to keep the door open to those you love and say instead, “I am sorry for my actions. How can we fix this?” It is easier to wallow in our poverty of spirit than it is to stand up and help those around us and climb out of the denial which binds our hands and feet and profess the words of God. By opening your eyes you are also opening your heart and through this process you begin the awesome journey of destroying laziness in your life and living for God. I say to you do not be deceived and cling to your freedoms as if were gold or jewels, because the question God will ask you upon the “Day of Judgement” is extraordinarily simple, “Did you live for me or did you instead live for yourself?” 

Laziness Equals Cutting Corners

19 “The way of the slothful man is as an hedge of thorns: but the way of the righteous is made plain.” ~ Proverbs 15:19

I see this with my students when it comes to studying for their test; often they will take the notes but forget the notebook. I see this with my adult friends as they will talk a good game but then take no actions they had promised. It seems in both instances that the taking action is harder than the task, but the task is made out to be impossible or to stressful and so the first response is to quit before they start, or to cheat and cut corners. “Yes” the task may have been accomplished but it was not done to its fullest extent so it’s foundations therefore were laid upon sand rather than bedrock. This obvious laziness is very much like a hedge of thorns because it pricks the skin of all those who come in contact, and it often times is the cause to so much strife. It is more rewarding to to have studied then take the test confidently knowing you will pass with flying colors then it is to fret and feel defeated before and after the test. Remember that God is constantly testing us, testing our character, testing our loyalty, testing our love, and testing our fortitude by allowing certain problems to take place within our lives. God is molding us into a more perfect version of ourselves, but this process will never take root if you fall into denial and practice the art of refusal, because eventually you will have been given more than your fair share of chances and the door will close and you will pay for your sins and your many refusals. Doing things half-way is like not doing them at all. Part of your mind and spirit is in refusal to the full way, the right way, and rebellion takes over in your heart. Remember also that,  “Laziness”,  is another word for, “Slothfulness”, and slothfulness is one of the Seven Deadly Sins. Laziness detracts from your efforts, keeps you prisoner, and keeps you complacent. But on the other hand those who are not lazy, who take action, who face their fears, and those who make bold moves in the name of God are counted among the wisest of the wise. Their actions are plain, easy to see, noticeable because of their fortitude, and they are seen for their strength of character, and are unshakable in their faith. These wise people are Gods righteous disciples and they hold the word of God in their hearts, minds, and soul.  God’s righteous people do not worry about the task at hand, even though it may seem impossible, they know it is not. It is an inner knowledge, (comfort), given them by their faith in God. In truth many stray from God and become lazy in their spiritual life because they claim it’s borring to go to church weekly, or they develop a disconnect with the other worshipers in that church, and they use these excuses to stop going completely. When this happens the faith they once held within God is broken and laziness takes root. But the wise and righteous fill this time with God, whether in church or on the street or in their houses alone, every moment is filled with God. Again the task of being active should envelop  every aspect of your life, it should melt seamlessly in and become singular actions that happen without thought or concentration on your part. Saint Peter did not think about his death, rather than His example of living for Jesus. The last thoughts of James, Son of Alphaeus was not of the stones being thrown that would end his life, but the fire for Christ he was lighting with his death. In every instance the disciples who died for their faith by the brutal actions of the non-believers they were preaching too was not of themselves or else they would never have gone so willingly to their deaths. In all the instances of those disciples who fell asleep in peaceful places, died after giving their entire life over to Jesus and spent every waking moment preaching the Word of God. Here is the description of “WHAT HAPPENED TO THE DISCIPLES OF JESUS” presented by Ichthus. 

Plenteousness vs Hastiness

5 “The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness; but of every one that is hasty lead only to want.” ~ Proverbs 21:5

Those who rush through their lives, or give bad advise hoping to manipulate others thus wasting those peoples time and energy lead only to despair and wanting. Ironically all those who are affected by these manipulators also find nothing but wanting. In part it was the act of laziness which provoked this vicious cycle of hastiness and manipulations because it would have been harder to have been diligent and followed the ways of God. I say to you those who rush through activities also rush through everything giving no thought or concern for others in all areas of their life. Some will claim that they just wanted to get it over, some will claim that it didn’t matter any way, and still others will claim the experience would not have had any other conclusion, but I tell you these claims are false before the eyes of God. These people cut corners, cheat, lie, scheme, and do not care who they hurt. To see through this deception the simple test is to ask yourself if they saved any time by their hasty actions? Was there anyone hurt by what they did or was there anyone not accounted for in their hasty plans? Odds are someone was forgotten, someone was hurt, someone was cut off. In many instances there will be many people affected indirectly and  wether they realize it or not, their time has been stolen by the lazy selfishness of another. Whereby the exact opposite of hastiness and manipulation is that of living in plenty, living within the rules given by God and always doing your do diligence. When you meet a person who carries these attributes their goals and careful thought of others is easy to see. They do not rush into action, they instead take their time to consider all outcomes and to be frank, this takes time and effort. Some of us would say that we fit safely into this category, but truth be told many do not. It takes a certain level of maturity, wisdom, and love for your fellow man to be put within this very small group of people. These people of plenty are again ruled by the laws of God, and they do what is right, not what is convenient or fun. They keep the focus on God and give God all the glory when miracles happen in their lives. They are the most happy people you could ever hope to meet because they indure regardless of the hostility of others towards them and or harshness of their environment. They convert the non-believers and are methodical in action always persevering when others say it’s impossible. The people of plenty are the jewels of God, they are His most honored and the richest in the world as their hearts are filled with perpetual happiness and love from God. In the end we all have a choice, to be filled with plenty every day for the rest of our lives or to cheat and steel, making everyone around us miserable and accomplishing only despair for ourselves and others. We can take our time and smell the roses God has for us in His garden (so to speak) or we can rush through life chopping down every opportunity that could have been that singular flower that changed your life and way of thinking for ever. You can be diligent and patient or you can be rude and hasty, the choice is yours alone to make.

Laziness is Self-Limiting

7 “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” ~ John 15:7

Many people use excuses that  blame Jesus for their own laziness. According to Dan Waldschmidt’s blog posting tilted, “Jesus Doesn’t Do Lazy”, he points out that waving religion around as an excuse to not doing what it takes to succeed is not going to get you anywhere in life. Waldschmidt plainly states, “No amount of religion or spirituality can replace good old fashioned hard work. There are a lot of excuses that we  use to justify not working as hard as we should. One of the most deceptive excuses is religion. Instead of getting back up after a failure or trying a little bit harder along the way, we use the excuse that “if it was supposed to happen it would have happened” — inferring that some Higher Being controls how hard we try or not. Which is just silly. And self-limiting.” ~ Waldschmidt, Dan (Jan.23, 2013) Found online at: http://danwaldschmidt.com/2013/01/attitude/jesus-doesnt-do-lazyWaldschmidt has a point, for the Lord helps those who helps themselves. God rewards good behavior, not bad behavior. To many people assume because they pray, (sometimes),  or  look religious to others they will be rewarded. This is not the case. Praying is an activity you should be doing anyway, religion should be a personal matter between you and God and not used to impress others. Your walk with God is a special relationship that is between you and God, and if someone asks and you share then let Gods words do all the talking. One does not need to push religion to win an argument or make appoint  rather God is way to sophisticated for his words and promises to be used in a cat-fight. We share our faith to enhance our brethren’s faith, not to force your thoughts, beliefs, and ideas upon them. Truth is that, “There’s a direct connection between how hard you work the success that you achieve. It has always been that way and it will always be that way. Hard work always gets you better results. Laziness always ends up in failure.” ~ Waldschmidt, (2013). Laziness is self-limiting because you place an artificial cap on your own efforts expecting to fail, coupled by blaming God for the failure you have placed a mark of failure upon your heart. Failure can drive many people to laziness, to blame others, to ignore the obvious truth of the lack of their own efforts. Case in point: The Listening Faithfully Blog was not a popular blog in the beginning, but over time and writing many posts there came a point when people came, read, and came back week after week. 98% of all the comments I have received over the past five years has been positive and encouraging. In this time Listening Faithfully went from last page of the Google search results to number one. There are thousands of people around the world in almost every country that has logged in and visited many of our posts. Now imagine had I stopped after a January 2010 when I only received one view, or after the entire year of 2010 where I only received 1,090 views. In that case Listening Faithfully would never have grown into the success it is today tripling those stats every single month and gaining more and more follower, readers, and friends worldwide and changing lives in the process. Now, do I boast about this success, No, rather I thank God for His kindness and grace, and tell everyone who reads this blog to thank God for all the awesome blessings He has bestowed in your lives. In this action, when the miracles happen, you are proactive enough to thank God immediately more blessing are sure to come your way. But if laziness takes root, those blessing will never come, then the blaming and finger pointing begins, and your efforts will seem to have no effect. Hard work is the key, diligence is the key, belief in your future accomplishments is the key that lazy people are missing. Don’t falling to false teaching, not looking for a shortcut, not forcing others into misery, not being lazy is also the keys to defeating laziness and banishing it from your life forever. 

 

Amen

If you liked this Reflection on LAZINESS please leave a comment. Also please “LIKE” and “SHARE” this post with others.

Brian Keith

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P.S. NEVER GIVE UP!

  

Reflection 9: What You Can Expect From Life: According to HONESTY

11 “‘Do not steal. Do not lie. Do not deceive one another.” ~ Leviticus 19:11

Honesty 

When confronted with this word, I think deep down inside we all want to be honest, but yet we are still very much intimidated by it. Honesty carries with it some very rigorous implications, like a two edged sword that could just as easily cut the wielder as the opponent. As imperfect human-beings this word, “HONESTY” scares us just a little because we all know this is the ideal we sinners can never live up too. For the majority of people however, this ideal is very much ever-present in our minds, hearts, and souls as it is the one aspiration which can revolutionize how we think, feel, and operate on a daily basis and again that notion is a bit scary. So, with this firmly stated and excepted as the truth, no one is perfect, thus when we reflect upon this word there should be no one who takes offense of the remainder of this blog. Rather when reading the contents I ask that you reflect deeply upon your own life and experiences and ask yourself how honest have you truly been to your loved ones, friends, and of course yourself? How honest have you been with God? Also as a disclaimer I want everyone to know I am not perfect and I too struggle with  this word everyday. But it also should be known that when we are not honest we are breaking a covenant with God, as mentioned above, God did ordain it to be so for all mankind to be honest with each other, to not steal lie, or deceive. Because when we are not honest with one another then we separate ourselves just that much more from Him. We destroy what should have been and allow an abomination to take its place.


35 “You shall do no injustice in judgment, in measurement of length, weight, or volume.” ~Leviticus 19:35

It’s interesting that God chose the word, “INJUSTICE”, when warning us about our sense of judgement. I feel He saw our civilization coming and knew we would be a people of great laws, and even greater hypocrisy and corruption within those laws. I think He knew we could not live up to the ideal He set forth so we would try and replace His perfect laws with ones of our own, ones less perfect in nature more befitting mankind. Laws riddled with loopholes that would allow Judges from all branches of our Justice System to skip happily through rules they feel strongly about but while ignoring the words “Shall Do”, ignoring the laws in-favor of making a point or changing how people perceive specific guidelines and policies. I think God saw our lawyers who argue their cases based upon lies and misdirection, never caring who they hurt but instead whether or not they win their case. Justice goes hand in hand with ethics, but our civilization too is so far removed from this our most honest of men sit and let immoral people change the definitions of words like, “Marriage” to include two people of the same sex, which again is clearly an abomination to God. I am still waiting for people to protest scenes in our T.V. shows who have snuck in under the radar that depict two men kissing, or two women making out. For these perverse things our children are being desensitized too and will someday be voting adults. This is how perversion is first spread and rots out the core of a nation. The older I get the more my students become accepting and down right argumentative to what it means to them to be married, what it means to not have pre-marital sex, and even more shocking how they feel violence is acceptable behavior when someone disagrees with them. But, this of course is the final result of our long lived policies of stripping our public schools from saying prayers in their classrooms, prohibiting our children to engage in their faith on public property and to keep our children from having pride in our country by abolishing the national anthem in school for the fear it might hurt a specific groups sensibilities. It’s interesting how far we have slid since those policies where adopted over thirty years ago, and I must now stand up and forewarn you all that God will turn His back on us as surely as we have turned our backs on Him. Our judgments on issues of morality are the cause to our grief as a country, because they are filled with injustice of both measure, weight, and volume. The days of honesty in Government is over, honesty in our courts is over, honesty in our media has become a thing of the past as well.

17 “Therefore you shall not oppress one another, but you shall fear your God; for I am theLord your God.” ~ Leviticus 25:17

Ironically, the injustice in our country is primarily a symptom of our rotting souls as we seek to oppress instead of find common ground and common respect. Our fear of God sadly too has become a thing of the past as to many of our evangelists preach about a loving, tender, forgiving God that is no-longer vengeful, no longer judgmental, or temperamental as found in the Old Testament. To many feel what was then does not apply to us today, thus removing ourselves from under the harder aspects of what God really expects from us as His people. At this juncture I would like to point out the only being that which was the same a million years ago is still unchanged and perfect. Therefore, God is unchanged since the beginning and His views, wants, desires, hopes, and aspirations for mankind is also unchanged. We have become spiritually soft and I would hazard a guess this is because no one or collective group of thousands or tens of thousands of people all in unison have not heard from God lately. To even admit you hear God’s voice in your heart and mind in today’s world is looked at as strange. But, yet two men or women kissing each other isn’t strange? This perversion is truly the hallmark of the days Jesus predicted would come. Oppression is found in every avenue of our great society from how we oppress men’s and fathers rights, to how we oppress other people from other countries when their land holds something of value we prize and want to control it based upon the, “Holy Grail”,  of excuses called “National Security”. We oppress people with our hypocritical view of the 1%ers  to how we tax those who can no-longer pay taxes nor catchup in what they owe because of the meager wages they earn. Again, we have forgotten honesty, integrity, and hard-work and have replaced it with a dollar sign and loophole in the tax code called shelters. Who would have ever thought our money would need a shelter?

HONESTY VRS THE FALSE BALANCE

11 “A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is his delight.” ~ Proverbs 11:1

All the above indeed has caused a false balance, one so greatly exacerbated that our very economic system will implode its just a matter of when. Largely this problem of economics is based upon a decision made when our country was still very young and it was made through weakness of the President of the time and Greed from the banking institutions. This of course of which I speak gave rise to the modern money system we enjoy today, one based upon credit and interest. A system we force feed the rest of the world and yet we are surprised upon the eve of its failure of why the world hates us? I say what a short memory we have and what a wonderful ability to spin the truth we have developed. A false balance created through lies, manipulation, and dishonest behavior. As with our nation so too many people around the world have fallen into this greed and sin as their personal lives spin out of control spiraling downward from the lavish  spending and while spouting aloud that this looming doom will never happen, turning a blind eye to the obvious as well as turning a blind eye to God. Simple truth is when we as mortals feel we are more powerful than the most powerful being in existence. When we examine this in full detail it  seems to me to be something seriously wrong with how we view ourselves, and how unbalanced we have as people, as well as, a nation have we become.

27 “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it.” ~ Proverbs 3:27

Again “HONESTY” is the ability to recognize the truth, to tell the truth even when it is not in ones best interest, and it is our obligation as believers to keep our brethren from lying, cheating, and stealing from others. But the sin which is greater than the total sum is when a person in their own heart and mind willfully ignores the truth, ignores honesty, and withholds an honest man his due. In this any victory is hollow, any triumph is rendered meaningless, and all effort to that end have thus become futile. When we are given the opportunity to tell the truth and we ignore that obligation we then are turning our backs on what God wants, we thus change the circumstances to fit our own personal wants, stopping what was supposed to come into fruition and instead allowing an abomination. Everyone of us is guilty of everything thus far mentioned, but some of us more so than others. It is a hard reality when we wake and see ourselves in such a stark light, but nevertheless something we all must eventually do if we want God’s grace to shine upon us.

8 “Better is a little with righteousness, than great revenues with injustice.” ~ Proverbs 16:8

Profit over righteousness? This has become the true question. Who should we be loyal to? Which master will be more forgiving in the end? Which side should we be on in these days of such turmoil? Jesus professed there would be such days where we would be blinded to what was real, man would sircome to evil and nations would crumble and fall because of their greed. The depiction of the end by John of Patmos is truly horrifying to say the least, but how much more bizarre and alarming was it to the disciples when Jesus spoke of those days. In fact Jesus was more in line with the idea that even the smallest amount of righteousness was better than none. It’s funny how people of those times mirrored those of us today who still clammer and bicker about who should or should not, ignoring that it would be righteous to find peace and accomplish the task together for the benefit of all. Both time periods are largely incased in vast greed, and the pursuit of happiness and truth through money and possessions  again something Jesus emphatically instructed not to do. I would hazard a guess that Jesus was talking to them and us and our children, and all people until His glorious return.

THE CHALLENGE OF HONESTY

9 “Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 andhave put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.” ~ Colossians 3:9-10

Therefore, in what has been thus written a collection of mankind’s collective sins against God. Here before everyone of us is the sin of dishonesty and the challenge to reverse or at least atone for our ignorance. For God has so declared for all mankind to be honest, to not lie, to not steal, to not manipulate, and  to never pervert the truth in anyway. God commanded us  to not bare falsely against thy neighbor  and to love one another as you love yourself. The challenge before all of us as sinners is to change and be more honest with God, with ourselves, and with our loved ones. To cast off our old sinful ways, and cling to our new more incorruptible selves. The challenge of honesty is real, it is ever present, it does not ever go away, and it above all it is absolutely, brutally honest. As I have stated before, a lie is a lie and will always be a lie, but the truth is the most honest things we could ever possess in this life. It is the ideal we should all strive for, we should all help each other stay devoted too, and it is that goal we can taste but never truly own.

Amen

If you liked this Reflection on HONESTY please leave a comment. Also please LIKE and SHARE this post with others.

Brian Keith

Your invited to stay in contact with me!

EMAIL: listeningfaithfullyblog@gmail.com

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HELP SUPPORT LISTENING FAITHFULLY BLOG BY MAKING ALL YOUR ONLINE PURCHASES THROUGH OUR WEB STORE!  CLICK HERE.  As a special token of appreciation please accept a free downloadable gift from me to you: FREE BIBLE

While  at our Online store powered by AMAZN.com please consider being one the 20 special supporters of Listening Faithfully and purchase a Kindle Fire today. One Kindle Fire supports one child for this Summers Technology Team Course at Ascension Catholic School.  Become a supporter of inner city literacy today!

If your into marketing like I am then you need to generate leads period. So for visiting Listening Faithfully please click the following link and get your very own FREE LEADS GENERATING SYSTEM FOR FREE   – FOREVER TODAY! Click Here to claim your free FREE LEADS GENERATING SYSTEM! 

God Bless,

Brian Keith

P.S. NEVER GIVE UP!