Slug That Sluggard!

Proverbs 24-27

Stab, stab. Twist, twist. Did yesterday’s questions hit below the belt? Maybe so. But they are the kind of questions that reveal the pulse of your efficiency heartbeat.

If you’re like I am, life is too busy to add some unrealistic, humongous, impossible-to-achieve-anyway program. Instead, let’s deal with the problem in a straightforward and simplified manner. First, admit to yourself that you could stand a change here and there. Try to be specific enough to pinpoint a couple of particular areas that keep bugging you. Don’t bite off too much, just one or two trouble spots you plan to deal with first.

Now then, write down the problem. Maybe it would be “I am usually late to a meeting. More often than not, I have to hurry . . . and even then, I am five to ten minutes late.”

Once this is done, think about several practical ways you can conquer the habit or pattern you’ve fallen into. Again, write down the plan for correction.

One final suggestion: Work on only one or two projects at a time. If you try to shoot at too many targets at once, you won’t hit any. This will frustrate you and may cause you to give up. And, by the way, don’t forget to pray and read a brief portion of God’s Word. You’ll certainly find help there.

For example, the Book of Proverbs puts a high priority on orderliness. You can’t read it without getting motivated . . . and convicted! Take 26:13–16, where inefficiency is personified as a sluggard. “The sluggard says, ‘There is a lion in the road! A lion is in the open square!’ As the door turns on its hinges, so does the sluggard on his bed. The sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he is weary of bringing it to his mouth again. The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can give a discreet answer.”

The syndrome is painfully clear:

We see danger . . . but we don’t care (the lion).
We are concerned . . . but are too lazy to change (the bed).
We become victims of habit (the dish).
We rationalize our failures.

“Decently and in order.” That’s our goal, remember. Most of us are a lot more decent than we are orderly. Which means we qualify as highly moral, well-behaved sluggards.

An orderly life is like an orderly closet;
it looks good and it serves its intended purpose.