What does the Bible say about sloth?

Loafing

• Proverbs 6:6, "Go to the ant, you lazybones; consider its ways, and be wise"
• Proverbs 6:9, "How long will you lie there, O lazybones? When will you rise from your sleep?"
• Proverbs 19:24, "A sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he will not even bring it back to his mouth!"
• 2 Thessalonians 3:10, "Anyone unwilling to work should not eat"
• Hebrews 6:12, "We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised"

Meaningless

• Ecclesiastes 1-2, wisdom, pleasures, and toil all appear to be meaningless

Failure to follow through

• Matthew 7:26, the foolish person builds their house on the sand
• Matthew 25:25, "I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground"
• Matthew 25:29, "from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away"
• Mark 4:25, failure to hear and apply Jesus' teaching in his parables

Fruitlessness

• Galatians 6:8, "Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction."
• James 2:14, "What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works?"

Inalertness

• Matthew 25:1-13, the parable of the ten virgins.

Suppression of truth

• Romans 1:18, The "ungodliness and wickedness of those who by their wickedness suppress the truth."

Ingratitude

• Adam and Eve's discontent with their lot
• Israel's grumbling in the wilderness
• Elijah's self-pity
• Jeremiah's repeated indictment of people who "forget God" or "turn their backs" on God
• Jesus' disciples jockeying for the status of "the greatest"
• Romans 1:21, "Though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him . . ."

Sermon ideas about sloth

The sin of sloth is not healthy rest (recreation, sabbatical) mere laziness, (though laziness is usually an ingredient in it), clinical depression, nor doubt, let alone lament (which requires real faith)

In his treatise on Religious Affections, Jonathan Edwards writes that the principal sign of whether we are truly regenerated is not how much we talk about Jesus. According to the gospels, people who say "Lord" all the time don't necessarily impress God. After all, talk is cheap—and Edwards uses almost exactly those words. To follow Jesus we have to practice what he preached. And what Jesus preached is that a good tree is known by its fruit, not by its twigs or leaves or heaving branches. And a Christian is known by his Godly practice, not by his good intentions or pious talk or spiritual hand-waving. A good tree is known by producing actual fruit, and a good Christian is known by producing actual good works. "Godliness consists not in a heart which intends to do the will of God but in a heart which does it" (Edwards, Religious Affections, vol. 2, The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Yale University 1959, pp. 135-37, 427).

McCracken says that the slothful person at last "believes in nothing, cares for nothing, seeks to know nothing, interferes with nothing, enjoys nothing, loves nothing, hates nothing, finds purpose in nothing, lives for nothing, and only remains alive because there is nothing he would die for." (In What Is Sin? What Is Virtue?(Harper & Row, 1966, p. 78)

Ingratitude is poor spiritual hygiene, but gratitude is a powerful engine of joy.

Children can sometimes get themselves in a snit. They lose interest in toys, games, even video games. They get irritable. They start snapping at others. They don't want to do anything. They fold their arms and declare, "I'm bored!" Spiritually speaking, sloth is a snit.