Transition from Laziness to Deligence

Laziness:-is the lack of desire to perform work or expend effort.

Jules Renald, defined laziness as nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired.

Another scholar defined it as the failure of a person to properly manage the time and resources God has provided to us. Because we will all have different skills and abilities, the quantity and quality of our work can never be a true indicator of dedication. The reason sin is abounding is simply because people are lazy. They slothful, idle, immobile, and inactive. Lazy people are believers. The unsaved people cannot be held accountable for something they never pledged to uphold. An atheist is obviously not going to be instructing others to walk in the statutes and ordinances of God.

Slothful means sluggish, that is, (literally) lazy, or (figuratively) stupid, dull.

Diligence:-Earnest and persistent application to an undertaking, steady effort (American Heritage Dictionary)

Consciousness in paying proper attention to a task, giving the degree of care required in a given situation.

Constant and earnest effort to accomplish what is undertaken, persistent exertion of body or mind.

Benefits of Diligence and the Consequences of Laziness

Proverbs 10:4 “He becomes poor who works with a slack and idle hand, but the hand of the diligent makes rich”.(Proverbs 13:4)
A state of poverty is progressive in as much as the state of riches is progressive. This simply implies you either poorer or rich tomorrow than you were the day before depending on how you utilize your resources.
Being poor is not a result of not working or expending effort per se but rather how you work or expend the effort is the determining factor.

Proverbs 10:5 “He who gathers in summer is a wise son ,but he who sleeps in harvest is a son who causes shame”(Proverbs 10:26)
· Diligent people gather their cops meaning the diligent will always ensure that they do what they are supposed to do at the right time and in the write place.
· The lazy son sleeps during harvest meaning when all the opportunities have been presented for one to seize and scale to dizzy heights they choose to forgo.
· A sluggard is always an annoyance to the employer because they will never present a well done job e.g. it will be full of errors and lack innovativeness.

Proverbs 12:11 “He who tills his land shall be satisfied with bread, but he who
follows worthless pursuits is lacking in sense and is without understanding”. (Proverbs 9:6,Proverbs 14:24).
· The food that you receive is determined by the quality and quantity of time you expend on your task. The Lord promises to bless the works of our hands hence it implies our effort to a task is some what a seed for great provisions.
· Laziness is also a sign of that one does not have a vision. If one is lazy it means they do not really know what they want in life and that which they are called to do because they would spend time pursuing that.

Proverbs 12:14 “From the fruit of his words a man shall be satisfied with good,
and the work of a man ‘s hands shall come back to him(as a harvest)” (Isaiah 3:10)

· The Lord blesses the works of our hand.

Proverbs 12:24 “The hand of the diligent will rule, but the slothful will be put to
forced labour”
· Effective and efficient leadership is a product of diligence.
· Being lazy is a conscious and deliberate choice to become a slave either to those above you or to the circumstances and conditions of life.

Proverbs 12:27 “The slothful man does not catch his game or roast it once he kills it, but the diligent man gets precious possessions”
· Diligent people always make good use of their resources, that is, they spend and invest out of knowledge hence in turn enjoy the benefits.
· The lazy people are wasteful hence they do not even think of investment.
· The power is not in how many resources you have but rather on how much of the resources you have do you serve and invest.

7. Proverbs 14:23 “In all labor there is profit, but idle talk leads only to poverty”
· The diligent will always do things with excellence and in turn they get the rewards e.g. promotion, a student will pass exams, upliftment in one’s spiritual life etc.
· The lazy people say what they do not do, that is their talking is not expressed or exhibited by their work.

8. Proverbs 21:25-26 “The desire of the slothful kills him,but the(uncompromisingly
righteous gives and does not with hold.(II Corinthians 9:6-10)
· Lazy people will always be in want.
· The deligent are the givers.
· The lazy are always full of excuses as to why they are not performing or achieving.

Proverbs 20:13 “Love not sleep ,lest you come to poverty, open your eyes and you will be satisfied with bread”
Diligent people sleep only when their assignments have been completed. Remember the Lord gives rest to those whom He loves that is rest comes after you have worked.
Pastor Tose Ndebele gave an illustration that if you are going to live for 60years and you sleep 8 hours a day effectively in your 60 years ,20(1/4) of them you will be sleeping hence unproductive. These 20 years do not include your child hood, eating, talking, etc.

Proverbs 21:5 “The thoughts of the (steadily) diligent tend only to plenteousness,
but everyone who is impatient and hasty hastens to want”
· The diligent do have careful plans which are well thought hence not difficult to implement.
· The lazy people always make hasty short cut because they do not want to give due attention to a task at hand.

Ways of Maximising One’s Potential

1.Clearly identifying and defining your tasks.
It is one’s sole responsibility to write down what he or she will be doing each and every day and above all in the years to come.[Proverbs16:4,Habakuk2:2].

2.There is need for one to prioritise their individual tasks.
.The act of being busy does not guard us from being slothful.Inorder to be productive we need to assign priorities to our daily activities.
.Many people become lazy by making poor choices regarding their priorities hence in the end nothing comes out right.
.Follow and accomplish all that you have planned for the day in the order of their priorities.
.It will take discipline for one to carry out the scheduled task at the appropriate time and complete it at the desired time.

3.Managing your time and abilities.
.One is to rightfully divide his or her time and assign it to each and every task commensurate with the magnitude of the work to be undertaken.
.It takes one to know which task requires much of their time and then give them due recognition.
.Because we have a lifetime to accomplish what God expects of us ,the rate at which we go about tasks is not the central issue,but rather how well we do it within the stipulated time frame.
.The most vital component for achieving a fruitfull life is our willingness to contribute.
.The smallest effort over the longest period of time is worth 100 percent more than a continuous state of disengagement.

4.Involvement.
.One has to make a purposed decision that they are going to carryout the required task and right away do it.

5.Evaluation
.This means work carried out will have to be compared to the predetermined targets.
If they are plans for the year at the end of it there is need to identify what was achieved and what was not.
§There is need also to identify the reasons for non achievement in certain areas of one’s life.

6.Correction.
The deviations from the original scope of undertaking the works will have to be identified and effected.