7 Characteristics of lazy people in the Bible

Leave it to lazy people and nothing will ever get done. You may have heard the wise advice which says “Do not leave for tomorrow what you can do today.” However, lazy people say “Why do today what you can do tomorrow.”

1 Lazy people love to sleep a lot

Prov. 19:15 says “Laziness brings on deep sleep, and the shiftless go hungry.”
Prov. 26:14 says “As a door turns on its hinges, so does a sluggard on his bed.”

What this means is that just as a door turns on its hinges yet is firmly riveted to those hinges lazy people turn on their beds yet seem not to be able to leave it.

2 Many lazy people may not achieve much in life

Judges 18:9 says “And they said, Arise, that we may go up against them: for we have seen the land, and, behold, it is very good: and are ye still? be not slothful to go, and to enter to possess the land.”

Heb. 6:12 says “… be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.”

Prov. 15:19 says “The way of the slothful man is as a hedge of thorns: but the way of the righteous is made plain.”

It is difficult for lazy people to see their way. The righteous on the other hand have a plain path to walk despite the trials of life.

3 The lazy will have to serve the diligent

Prov. 12:24 says “The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: but the slothful shall be under tribute.”

Prov. 12:27 says “A lazy person does not roast his prey, But the precious possession of a person is diligence.”

4 Lazy people waste time and other things

Prov. 18:9 says “He also that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster.”

5 Lazy people allow things to fall apart – even their house!

Eccles. 10:18 says “Through laziness, the rafters sag; because of idle hands, the house leaks.” Apparently lazy people do not believe that a stitch in time saves nine.

Prov. 24:30-31 says “I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding; and, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down.”

6 Lazy people have desires but no will to bring it to fruition

Prov. 21:25 says “The desire of the sluggard kills him, for his hands refuse to labor.”

Prov. 26:15 says “The sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he is too lazy to bring it back to his mouth.”

Prov. 19:24 says ” A sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he will not even bring it back to his mouth!”

7 Lazy people find weird excuses not to work

Prov. 22:13 says “The lazy person says, ‘A lion is in the street! I will be killed if I go outside.’”

Prov. 26:13 says “Like a coating of silver dross on earthenware are fervent lips with an evil heart.”

Matt. 25 talks about how a man travelling to a far country gave his servants “talents” – a type of money in those days. The one who was given five talents invested them and got gained five more. The one given two talents invested them too and gained two more. However, the one given only one talent dug a hole in the ground and hid it in the ground. Listen to the weird excuse in Matt.25:24-25: “Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’”

Now, if he knew that his master would dig up the earth like that then the worst place to put the money was in the ground! His master called him a “wicked and slothful servant.” That lazy man did not realize that if you put money in the ground it will not grow. He should have tried a “Money Tree” account in a Credit Union.

Let us therefore follow the injunction in Rom. 12:10-11 which says: “Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.”