Let’s start straight–A lazy Christian is a disgrace to the family of God. Not many realize, not many talk about it, but laziness is a tool that the devil can use to destroy families, relationships, churches and ministries. God has ordained work for man and hence laziness does not come from God. Think of mighty men of God from the Bible or in current times, and you will see that these are men of actions, inhabited by a fervent spirit.

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The book of Proverbs is filled with scriptures referring to ‘sluggards’ Here are five important checkpoints to identify whether you fall in this category:

1. A lazy person hates to work
He prefers being idle and hence is never able to make fruitful use of his time. The desire of the lazy man kills him, for his hands refuse to labour (Proverbs 26:14). A lazy person’s life is all noise, but no action.

2. He loves to sleep
As a door turns on its hinges, so does the lazy man on his bed. (Proverbs 26:13). A lazy person loves–rather lives to sleep. Bulk of the productive 24 hours of his day is spent in sleeping.

3.He is full of excuses
Assign a task to a lazy person and you will see that it is always pending because procrastination is the order of the day for him. And then in order to cover himself up, he is always making excuses. The lazy man says, “There is a lion in the road! A fierce lion in the streets (Proverbs 26:13).

4. He loves to cut corners to fulfill a task
You know a lazy person by the quality of the work he does. More often than not he is a pain to his master. As vinegar to the teeth, and smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to those who send him (Proverbs 10:26). Such people never move forward in their lives and are always looking to snatch someone else’s credit.

5.  A lazy person will always remain attracted to failures
Lazy people never succeed because of their attitude. Most of what they do ends up in failures and then they are quick to blame God or others. Bible says diligent hands will rule; but laziness ends in slave labour (Proverbs 12:24).

Remember Satan delights in a lazy soul because his mind is idle, and as the saying goes: An idle mind is the devil’s workshop. As a child of God, you got to set a good example before the world. If you are struggling with laziness, Jesus wants to set you free.

Don’t miss reading the second part of this post where you will see simple steps on how you can overcome laziness.