Matthew 26.41 describes, there is a part of you that is eager, ready for anything in God. But there’s another part that’s as lazy as an old dog sleeping by the fire.

No doubt all of us fall into this same description as a follower of Jesus: a part of us is eager to know God and serve Him but another part is as lazy as an old dog sleeping by the fire. Which part wins determines our destiny in many ways.

The lazy part for Peter resulted in his failure to resist the temptation to deny Jesus, the very thing he swore he would never do. Had the story ended with his denial, would Peter have entered heaven? Can you live your life a believer in Jesus but also a denier of Jesus? Jesus says those who are ashamed of Him in this world He will be ashamed to bring into the next world. Fortunately the Holy Spirit came and the lazy man was defeated as Peter eventually lost his life proclaiming the Savior.

We must learn to develop our spiritual muscles and deny our lazy selves if we want to be productive children of God proving our salvation by works that glorify God among men. Spiritual development is not hard but it does require discipline and new habits.

The first habit is to spend time with God daily by reading, studying and meditating on the word of God which is the Bible. We cannot know God and what He requires of us unless we read His biography which contains His instructions to us. It’s simple to read daily but its hard to remember to do so, to make it the first thing in our day. Yet we must. (Sign up to receive my blog and receive a free reading plan!)

Second, we need to pray and work. These two things go together. We read the Bible praying to obey it which occurs as we go about our day. As we pray to do what God says, God provides people in our lives for doing His will. God is called Father, so He is a relational God. All that He requires from us has to do with us loving one another so that we look more like Him.

Thinking about applying God’s Word to our lives is living quite differently from trying not to ‘sin.’ Frankly, that is impossible. God is less concerned about us not murdering someone and more concerned with us loving someone. Few of us murder people but few of us really love our neighbor.

If we are not to be found lazy we must capitalize on our eagerness by joining those who are likewise on the journey to know God and to do His will.