Interesting. An article in Inc.com reports that the successful author of bestsellers, Michael Lewis, makes the surprising claim that laziness “might be the key to success.” Really?
It is easy to dismiss the idea as nonsense, for “laziness” creates a picture of a slacker who avoids any kind of effort and accomplishes nothing. That’s the picture my mom probably had when she would scold her four sons for “doing nothing” when she would see us hanging out or chilling. In scripture, the word “slacker” (CSB) or “sluggard” (NIV, ESV) occurs 15 times in 14 verses, all in the book of Proverbs and all with a negative assessment of such a person. For example: “The slacker buries his hand in the bowl; he doesn’t even bring it back to his mouth” (Proverbs 19.24 CSB)!
That is not the picture that Lewis had in mind. The article describes his perspective as “the idea that leisure was to be cherished and that being constantly busy was not necessarily a good thing.” In fact, “embracing laziness has helped him be successful because he focuses his efforts only where it really matters.”
Aha! Now that’s different! Come to think of it, we can easily equate our importance with our busyness. Society tends to entice us into this way of thinking. Somehow we feel obligated to participate in every activity, or respond to every request, that comes our way. We’re afraid to be seen as a slacker. And we even transfer it to our children. Think of the whirlwind of activities in which we make our children participate. We complain about how overwhelming it gets. Yet we keep signing them up anyway.
But our busyness may actually rob us of the opportunity to be truly productive. “Being willing to be inactive or less active means you’ll be available when something truly worthy of your best effort comes along.” Lewis points out, “If you mistake busyness for importance—which we do a lot—you’re not able to see what really is important.”
We can do many things. But not everything we are asked to do may be worthwhile or may need an immediate response. Jesus himself faced many expectations from others. But he was willing to say “no,” even when it would appear like he was a slacker. For example, when he heard about the illness of his friend Lazarus, Jesus delayed going to him. When Lazarus died without Jesus getting to visit him, this troubled the sisters of Lazarus. It did appear that Jesus was slacking. Yet it created the circumstances for one of the most significant miracles of Jesus, the raising of Lazarus from the dead (John 11.1-44). Jesus knew how to focus his efforts on what was truly important. Maybe we can learn from him.
—Keith Y. Jainga