A Bible verse about laziness:
“Laziness brings on deep sleep, and the shiftless man goes hungry.” Proverbs 19:15.
I love this verse because it is so relatable to me. Mostly because it validates my own position, but that’s kind of a self-serving reason.
My entire life is about building more, and I don’t think that’s necessarily a selfish reason – although I’ve been accused of that. I think it’s deeper than that, so let me attempt to explain.
A Little Background
I’m not satisfied with where I’m at. Professionally, personally, financially, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, physically, etc.
In no aspect of my life, am I satisfied. I think that I can always be better. There’s always room for growth.
That doesn’t mean that I’m not grateful for where I’m at and what I’ve achieved; it just means that I can grow further.
Financial Growth
This has been a cause of major strife in my personal life because I’ve been accused of always “wanting more.” There is some truth to that, but let me attempt to explain myself.
I want to build an empire, simply put. I want to work hard enough and be successful enough that my children, and their children, and generations beyond don’t have to struggle like I do.
And I don’t think I’ll be satisfied until I achieve that. I want them to be able to pursue what makes them happy; not a paycheck.
To that end, I envision bequeathing a portfolio of investment properties and holdings to provide for them perpetually.
I won’t be satisfied until I grow to a point where my investments and holdings provide for my family to the point where I no longer have to “work,” and I can simply do the things I enjoy (which, oddly enough, is work).
Mental Growth
Every single day is an opportunity to learn something new. To that end, there’s no reason that I can’t grow mentally.
There are so many skills that I want to learn. I want to continue honing the knowledge that I already have, but there are some things that I’m interested in that I’ve barely scraped the surface.
We should be motivated to learn while we can. There is a wealth of information available, so being uneducated is inexcusable. In my opinion, being ignorant is akin to laziness.
Spiritual Growth
I’ve come a long way in this regard. But this is another facet of growth where we should never be complacent.
There’s never a point where you should be satisfied with your spiritual status because there’s always room for improvement.
I can always trust more, love more, understand more, and witness more. This is a facet of my life where I need to be more ambitious, and I think that is more of what this verse speaks to.
While I don’t think ambition is a bad thing; it’s important to bear in mind what that ambition is serving.
If I’m ambitious towards earning money simply to be rich, then I don’t think that’s as honorable as earning money to provide for generations of my family. Or maybe that’s just me making excuses.
That being said, I certainly don’t think that being ambitious for the Lord can be wrong.
Emotional Growth
I suffer from depression. I’ve written about this in the past, so I’m not going to go over it again here merely to mention that it’s still an issue.
I don’t know if it will ever “go away,” or if I’ll “recover” from it. That’s not the point. I think the growth in this aspect comes from recognizing it for simply that.
It’s a disease that I suffer from. I need to continually grow in accepting this, learning how to prevent it, and getting through it when it comes.
It’s one thing to get through it on an individual level, but I think the growth comes from being able to experience the depression and yet not let it affect my family.
Not by hiding it or pretending it’s not there, but being able to be honest about it, by being able to say “Daddy is having a sad day,” and having it be that.
By not lashing out or getting overwhelmed; I think that’s what I picture when I think of emotional growth for myself.
What is Satisfaction Anyways?
I guess the point of being satisfied is a bit subjective anyway. When I think of being satisfied, I think it would be a thought like this:
“This is perfect. There’s no way I could possibly grow further. I’m exactly where I want to be in all aspects of my life, and I could comfortably live at this level for the rest of my life.”
And given what we already discussed, I just don’t think that’s possible. Nor should it be. Because the only place where that’s possible is Heaven.
While we’re here on Earth, we’re preparing ourselves for that time in Heaven. So I don’t ever want to be at a point where I’m not preparing if that makes sense.
I want to be growing, learning, earning, and building.
Recap
Let me just leave you with two quotes that I think sum up this verse. The first is from Steve Harvey, and it’s a paraphrase of Proverbs 29:18:
"A man without a dream or vision shall perish."
And, from Nas:
“I never sleep, cuz sleep is just the cousin of death.”
Laziness leads to complacency. Complacency results in death. Grow, build, and learn. Maintain ambition, but ensure it’s for the right reasons.
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