I cannot overemphasize how skilled Guinness is at clearly explaining the true nature of the vices. Before reading this chapter, whenever I thought of the word ‘sloth,’ I either thought of a slow-moving animal or of a person who expects results without expending effort. For this reason, although I am lazy more often than I should be, I am industrious enough that I do not really fit the definition of a ‘sluggard. ’ However, according to Guinness’ definition, I am not guiltless of sloth. In fact, I have gone through several slothful periods in my life.
Although many of the examples in this chapter focused on sloth as the loss of hope in life, Guinness’ interpretation of this vice reveals that it is unfortunately quite easy to slip into a lesser degree of slothfulness than the extreme of despair. Before any of the other vices can be subdued, sloth must become the first target; it is the vice that robs us of meaning in life, and whenever we begin to believe that life is meaningless, our actions, both good and bad, lose all value and it no longer matters what we do. As Dorothy Sayers has said, “…the other sins hasten to provide a cloak for Sloth…” (qtd. n Guinness 159).
According to Guinness, “Sloth is far more than…physical laziness…It is a condition of explicitly spiritual dejection that has given up on the pursuit of God…” (pg 149). Furthermore, he claims that “Although sloth may begin as careless indifference to ideals, its final state is one of despair over the possibility of salvation – ultimately a form of spiritual suicide” (pg 150). To further clarify the meaning of slothfulness, Guinness includes an excerpt from Blaise Pascal that outlines Pascal’s ideas about two categories of spiritually ignorant people.
On the one hand, Pascal says, there are some people who are unsure of what they believe because their quest for spiritual understanding has not yet led to an internalization of God’s truth. However, there are some people who are spiritually ignorant because they are both too lazy to wrestle with their own beliefs and they are enthralled by the temporary pleasures of this world (qtd. in Guinness 153-155). Although Pascal’s definition of sloth seems to point towards unbelievers, I think that all believers wrestle at times with slothfulness.
We often claim to be concerned about our spiritual lives and yet we have a tendency to be passionate about keeping up the appearance of spirituality while allowing our outer fervor to become a mask for a slothfulness of heart. In elementary and early middle school I harbored a great deal of sloth in my soul. I was concerned about reading my Bible only for the sake of routine; I did not truly understand its transforming power, so I did not grasp it as tightly as I should have. However, during high school God stripped away my blithe attitude and made me pay the consequences for my years of indifference.
I doubted my salvation for four years, yet even after God gave me clarity and peace I still was not committed to the process of spiritual growth. Although I cared about spiritual things, I was too lazy to make the required steps toward change. I believe that an inordinate number of Christians, especially in the United States, take this same attitude towards practical application of Christianity. By the world’s definition of sloth as laziness, the numerous programs, outreach events, and political rallies sponsored by churches would make it appear as though believers are anything but slothful.
If we were honest, though, the high divorce rate among Christian couples and the percentage of college students who walk away from the faith reveal that sloth is brewing just beneath the shiny surface of Western Christianity. How, then, can sloth be overcome? The first step is effort. Note, however, that hard work will not solve the problem, and striving to overcome sloth is not the end in and of itself, as the simple definition of the word might suggest. Peter Kreeft declares that “Faith is finding, but mere seeking overcomes sloth. For seeking become finding, and finding becomes joy, and joy overcomes sloth” (qtd. n Guinness 167).
Even Kreeft’s statement seems to imply that effort “overcomes sloth,” but notice the key word in the last phrase – joy. Joy is what overcomes sloth. Out of all of the vices, sloth appears to be the one most easily conquered and the one that most people would be tempted to think requires no divine intervention. If a person is suffering from laziness, the perfect cure would appear to be work. However, because true sloth is not defined as the opposite of hard work, this approach will not be effective. Referring back to Guinness’ earlier statement, sloth is the loss of passion for God and godliness.
Since this is true, the only way to defeat this vice is the process (as Kreeft notes) of seeking God and discovering the reality of God and His Word, which leads to joy. Joy only comes from God, so in the end, God is the only one who can overcome sloth. The worldly proverbial sluggard is not an accurate depiction of true spiritual slothfulness, yet even this incorrect image does serve as an analogy. In the same way that the secular sluggard is always sleeping but never fully rested, spiritual slothfulness does not satisfy. Sloth leads to more sloth and discontent: it is not a time of spiritual rest that refreshes and restores.
Instead, it sucks a person into a rut that grows deeper and deeper with every step. God graciously reaches down to those in that position, but by that point, slothful people have ventured so deep that it requires a drastic event to bring them to their senses and back to God. I hope that I will never again endure this kind of suffering as a result of spiritual apathy. Knowing my own sinful tendencies, I am fairly certain that I will at some point fall again into the habit of slothfulness, but I fervently hope that these instances will be few and far between and that instead of being indifferent, I will use my strength to strive towards Christ.
