Sloth and Those who hunger for a life made right

(First published) March 10, 2010 at 6:12pm

I just came across this book review I posted to Facebook 6 years ago today. I didn't have my blog then, I think i will repost it here.

I'm reading the book "Seven: The deadly sins and the beatitudes" by Jeff Cook.

He pairs up the 7 deadly sins with the beatitudes saying they are flip sides of each other:

• Pride vs the Poor in Spirit
• Envy vs the Mourner
• Greed vs the Mercy Giver
• Sloth vs Hungering and Thirsting for Righteousness

The chapter on sloth is really good.
Some quotes:

"At its core, sloth moves us away from everything that ultimately matters and directs us toward simple distractions. Sloth is not mere laziness. Sloth is indifference toward my soul, my neighbors, my world, or my God. Drug users, TiVo Addicts, ... may be poisoned by sloth, but so are most workaholics. Sloth is not restfulness. Sloth is escapism of the deadly sort."

p. 69: "Slot is best expressed not by a lazy attitude but by zeal over petty matters. . . A heart at once so sensitive to minor things and so strangely insensitive to the greatest."

p. 79 Sloth is very western. Despite our fast-moving society, we "invest our energies and talents most often in what is trivial." "Sloth is content to aim us toward either apathy or fanaticism. All that matters is that the target is worthless".

Cook looks at the Parable of the Talents. The unfaithful servant BURIED his master's talent, showing him what he thought of the master and his pursuits. "They were dead to him".

On the other hand, the faithful servants were invited to "Come and Share in their master's happiness" which was NOT what masters did with slaves in that time. Pretty radical.

Similarly, the Parable of the Wedding Feast has the king inviting people to this feast but throwing out one man who was poorly dressed. Why? Because he was too lazy to dress for the wonderful occasion. To stay inside with the king, you had to be passionate about the king's concerns.

In both parables, Jesus pairs the slothful activity with hell.

"The blessed are passionate about what really matters - the image of God in those around them." P. 73.

Cook next talks about the Tower of Babel, wherein men were trying to escape the world. Instead, we see God always "longs to enter our sphere and make his home with us.". The parallel story to the Tower of Babel is Pentecost when God came and filled the house and then filled the believers. "The movement of God is to fill. While at Babel the people want to escape the world, at Pentecost God entered it." p. 76

On to the beatitude:

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled". We need to be STARVING for God. Note the prodigal son. He did not return because he wanted a relationship but because he was starving.

Jesus was not addressing those who have all their "junk in order" but those with "wrecked moral lives." So wrecked, in fact, that he associated their pain with starvation." (p. 80)

"Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness - who hobble along with deep aches, who press on through difficulty, knowing a fire and a meal are waiting - will be blessed by God, for he has the power to fill them." (p. 80-81)

"Sloth - indifference towards our souls - alone will keep us from the life we were made for. Sloth will praise the ruts we dig... but it is all a lie. We are made to overflow with life." "God is moving you and me from places where our lives are foul into realms of refreshment.. . He is slowly cutting away the gangrene. . . . We have nothing to hold onto but a promise as we endure surgery. . . . But the promise is beautiful. You will be made whole. You will be filled and your fullness will overflow everywhere." p. 81Lots of food for thought for a hungry man. :-)