THE NOON DAY DEMON

"The way of the slothful man is as a hedge of thorns: but the way of the righteous is made plain." Proverbs 15:19 KJVSloth, the fourth of the seven deadly sins, is today the most misunderstood of all—which is ironic because, properly understood, it is the characteristically modern sin. For a start, Sloth is more than a state of carefree lingering and more than physical laziness.  It's roots are spiritual rather than physical. It is a condition of explicit spiritual dejection that has given up on the PURSUIT of God, the truth, the good, and the beautiful. Sloth is inner despair that finally slumps into an attitude of “Who cares?”. It is what the medieval spoke of as “the noonday demon.” It is a sluggishness of spirit, feeling, and mind that eventually overcomes the body like an after-lunch sleepiness. CALLING is the best antidote to the deadly sin of sloth.

There are three principal points of entry for modern sloth, overlapping at times but quite distinct, and calling runs counter to them all. The first is philosophical. Loss of faith in God, and therefore in eternity and immortality, leads to an erosion of vitality in life itself. The second point of entry for sloth is cultural. We live in a world of convenience, comfort, and consumerism. And when life is safe, easy, sanitized, climate-controlled, and plush, sloth is close.  When comforts and convenience sap our energies and idealism, inactivity secretes sloth into our minds like a poison in the blood. Then, as lethargy and futility overtake us, we progressively lower our ideals and succumb. The result is a slump into the sin of sloth—“the sin which 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 it would die for. The third main entry point for sloth is biographical. There are natural points in our lives when each of us is especially prone to losing a sense of the noteworthiness of the worthwhile. Today the most talked about is the pent-up frustrations of a “midlife crisis".

The truth of calling addresses all these entry points of sloth. Personally summoned by the Creator of the universe, we are given a meaning in what we do that flames over every second and inch of our lives. Challenged, inspired, rebuked, and encouraged by God’s call, we cannot for a moment settle down to the comfortable, the mediocre, and the boring. The CALL is always to the higher, the deeper, and the farther.

This Week's Charge:  Be in ACTIVE Pursuit of your dreams!!!

                                                                                                    Excerpt From: Guinness, Os. “The Call.”