My children love the zoo. Surrounded by the concrete wilderness, there comes over them a sudden instinct to act and speak and even gyrate in ways that are animal-like. It’s an exercise in mimicry and communication.
Children love connecting with wild beasts—so they slam their little hands on the glass, rattle cages and make all those goofy noises. It’s an attempt to draw the notice of animals. And, of course, the beasts that respond are the crowd favorites.
Even if it’s just a lion simply staring into your eyes for three seconds through glass, that’s a chilling victory. That’s a connection that satisfies a child’s primitive longing to connect with a ferocious and deadly animal.
The Sloth
Not so with the sloth. The sloth is an ugly, gangly, hairy thing, with long legs and arms, and stretched, yellow claws. It just hugs a tree. Minds its own business. Bothered by nothing. Tuned into nothing. Sorry kids, there will be no engagement, no meeting of the minds. The sloth is napping. Again.
The Bible does not paint a more flattering picture of the sloth in our lives. The biblical images and slogans are unforgettable:
- If a man doesn’t work, neither should he eat. (2 Thessalonians 3:10)
- “Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways.” (Proverbs 6:6)
- The sluggard doesn’t get out of bed; he just flops like a wet fish—or a rusty door hinge. (Proverbs 26:14)
- The sluggard puts his hand in his food but lacks the motivation to get it to his face. (Proverbs 26:15)
- And like the old Minneapolis Metrodome in a historic blizzard, the sluggard’s roof sags and sinks down, and rain pours in on his head. (Ecclesiastes 10:18)
These are the common pictures of sloth: flat, idle, unresponsive.
Sloth devastates lives, slowly and subtly. And it hides in two misleading stereotypes.
Clarification #1: Sloth is a sin of desire.
It may not seem to be the case, but sloth is a sin of desire.
- Proverbs 13:4: “The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing.”
- Proverbs 21.25–26″ data-version=”esv” data-purpose=”bible-reference”>Proverbs 21:25–26: “The desire of the sluggard kills him, for his hands refuse to labor. All day long he craves and craves.”
All of us are craving, desiring, wanting people, and no less is this true of the sloth.
