The Bryce Crawford Podcast - The Deadly Sin of Laziness (EP 199)

Episode Date: June 12, 2026

The Deadly Sin of Laziness

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free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. Hey y'all, it's Kelly Clarkson with Wayfair. Ever order furniture online and wonder what if? Like, what if it doesn't hold up? That sofa was four days old. You should have ordered from Wayfair. With Wayfair, there's no what if. Just style you love and quality you can trust. Visit Wayfair. Every style, every home. What's going on guys? Welcome back to another episode of the Bryce Carver podcast. I'm Bryce. And today, by the title of this episode, we're going to be talking about something that I think, Gen Z and a lot of people are riddled with. We're going to be talking about sloth and laziness, what this looks like to have. initially what the Bible says about it and how we can overcome it. You see, sloth is extreme laziness. It's extreme laziness and passivity that comes from a lack of purpose and passion for God. Romans 12 verse 11 tells us, do not be slothful in zeal, but be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.

Whenever we become lazy and slothful, whether it be in day-to-day life, whether it be something God's called us to do, whether it be, you know, something that is, you know, something It's very plain and bland, good or bad, rainy or sunny day, we are lacking this zeal and passion and gratitude for the life that God has given us. And Paul says right off the bat in Roman 12, he's like, look, don't be slothful in zeal. Like, don't be lazy in your passion for me. Be fervent in spirit. Be excited about the day because there are people that didn't wake up today that you've

woken up. There are people that went to bed last night and didn't wake up today. there are people that don't have the abilities and the talents that you have. There are people that don't have arms or legs or a mute or a deft or whatever it may be. So many people have different things. So you should be grateful for the position that God has you and be fervent in spirit and serve the Lord. Be excited about where he has you and that excitement should lead you in obedience and servitude to the Lord. And so if we have this deep laziness and passivity because we lack care and depth and gravity for the

responsibilities that God has given us, this might be a sign of sloth or laziness because we're lacking purpose and passion. You see, when we are lazy or we procrastinate or we have sloth, we are slapping God in the face for the life that he has given us. We are not grateful that we woke up today. We are not grateful for our talents. We are not grateful for the position that he's put us in, the forensic. he's put in our way, whatever it may be, we are slapping him in the face and saying,

I wish you to give it to someone else. That's why the parable of the talents is so interesting, because we don't talk about passivity. The last guy that was given talents, he goes and buries it out of fear. So, yeah, maybe sloth and laziness may stem from actual sadness and lack of purpose and passion. Maybe you might be lazy because you're afraid. You're afraid you're going to misuse a gift. You're afraid you're going to do something wrong.

You're going to make a mistake. Whatever that may be. maybe you're bearing it in fear. And when we set our gifts and talents or responsibilities on the shelf out of fear or laziness, whatever it may be, we slap God in the face. As He God, I'm not grateful for the position that you've put me in. And so sloth is either two things, okay? Sloth can either be inactivity, right, laziness or something like that,

or it can be restless hyperactivity. I believe that the devil can't make you sin, he'll make you busy. and it'll make you busy because you try to find satisfaction, significance, and security in the things that you do, and you're on this endless loophole of whatever that looks like. But mainly sloth and laziness comes from inactivity, lack of purpose and passion. We're going to read Proverbs and what it talks about in Proverbs 6, Proverbs 13 and 12 and stuff like that. We're going to read about what it talks about laziness and sloth. But we need to understand something.

laziness, and you might be experiencing laziness, because you have a lack of care for the responsibilities that God has given you. You are slothful in zeal, like Romans 12 says. Rather, you have to look at the responsibilities that God has given you not as a burden, but as a joy because he trusts you with a will. He trusts you with things. And we're going to talk a little bit about Sabbath and how I believe there's like this, an interesting culture around Sabbath and why I think Sabbath is so important. some cool stories. But second, sloth can come from like a sadness of sorrow. Come from sadness and sorrow that leads to despair. And that's why I love what

Proverbs 6 talks about combating laziness. You know what it says in Proverbs 6? Verse 6, it says, go to the ant, oh, sluggard. Consider her ways and be wise. And this is why I love about it. Verse 7. Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food and harvest, how long will you lie there, oh, sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest,

and poverty will come upon you like a robber and want like an armed man. So not only will you lack purpose and zeal, but there will be physical repercussions for being passive, for procrastinating, for being lazy. And what I love about this passage when it pertains to laziness and sloth

is it says, observe the ant. Look at the ant. Look at the life of the ant. And oftentimes they're like, I'm only thinking about an ant when I need to stomp on it or squash or whatever it may be. Solomon is like, no, look at the life of an ant. It's actually super profound. You know why it's profound is because they don't have a queen bee telling them what to do. They don't have a general manager bossing them around. They don't have a mom or dad telling them what to do.

They are motivated. They are motivated to do the work that they're, were designed to do. You were designed for work. Good work. Let our good works be shown before men so that it gives glory to our Father who is in heaven. You see, our devotion to the Lord and our gratitude for responsibilities that he's given us shines that we serve a creator. It shines that we love Jesus. And when we walk out the call of God that God has placed us in our lives, or when we walk out responsibilities that he's trusted us with, or we live this thing out and we do good work. It's not for our own sake, but it's to point to someone who has given us

purpose. You see, we look for purpose and destiny in sin and people and sports and so many other things that leave us hopeless, rather than finding our purpose, identity, and destiny in Jesus Christ and allowing the things that he has given us a talent, the responsibilities, whatever it may be, we allow those things to point back to him. Because that's what it's all about, is letting those things that he has given us, point back to him. Look at what Proverbs 13, verse 4 says about laziness and sloth. It says, the soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied. Let's talk about this. When it comes to laziness and sloth, we oftentimes ask God to do things, and when he doesn't do them, we act like God is mean. When really you're just

being lazy. The reality is, is God has given you a sound mind. God has given you a body. God has given you limbs. God has given you purpose, personality, talents, gifts, abilities and things to accomplish these goals. So you can't get mad at the Holy Spirit for not doing something that you're able to do. Okay, that's like me looking at the camera and going, Holy Spirit, bring that camera into my hand. It's like, why don't I just stand up and go over there and get the camera? Okay, in the same way You can't get mad at the Holy Spirit for things that you are practically able to do. You're just being lazy and you're slapping gone to the face. And it's just the soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing.

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The soul of the lazy man wants everything handed to him on a silver platter. okay and he gets nothing you know why because he's not reaping the hard work that he has sewn in but what does he say while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied i'll give you a prime example i in the mornings before 10 a m i have a couple things i got to do i got to i got to walk my dog and go on a prayer walk i got to read my bible in the morning and i've got to work out those are my things and the workout part is so hard for me mentally because there's so many days i don't want to wake up or i wake up and I'm like, man, that pillow feels a little extra comfortable. Or man, I don't feel like working out.

My body's sore or I'm tired or I didn't get enough sleep. But when I go work out, there's a couple things that happen. Spiritually, I am grateful that I honored God with my body. I'm grateful that he allowed me to wake up. I'm grateful that we have muscles and joints and the ability to go work out and sweat and put in the hard work. But physically, I find this satisfaction where I go, wow, I did something. something hard. This encourages me to do more hard things. The fact that I got up and conquered this

thing and I was diligent, this supplies me richly and fuels me in a way where I'm motivated to serve my wife, serve my friends, serve the people that are a part of our ministry, to serve people that I've never met, all because we honor God, not in laziness, but in deed, in action. We actually need to take action when it comes to the things that we have, we have in our lives and the responsibilities that we have. Because like I said again, and I'm going to keep repeating myself, but it's important that we know to this. Notice this. Whenever we are lazy, we slap God in the face with a lack of gratitude. Now there's a difference between rest and laziness, and we'll get there in a second. What does Proverbs 26 say in verse 13? The sluggard says, there's a line in the road. There's a line in

the streets and as the door turns on its hinges, so does a slugger on his bed. You know what the lazy man does? He goes, there's responsibilities to be done. I'll do him later. We want to talk about laziness, but we don't want to talk about procrastination. Procrastination stems and breeds and fuels off of laziness. And it comes back and bites you in the tail. But let's talk about rest. you see Sabbath is important Selah you see these breaks in the Psalms Salah Selah Sala just means to rest break

Sabbath what does that look like sometimes Christians can take Sabbath culture and create laziness out of Sabbath culture so you go I need to rest I need to rest I need rest I need rest I need rest yes we do the reason why I love the Sabbath so much is we take a Sabbath

my Sabbath's personally Sundays I go to the local church I spend time with my wife I spend time with life giving friends I do something that is life-giving, that's not just reading your Bible. And I don't do any work. I don't get on my phone much. And I rest. And that rest, the Lord created the earth in six days, created the universe in six days, and what did you? He rested on the seventh day. You see, Sabbath was designed for mankind, not for us to legalistically approach the Sabbath. Sabbath was made for us. We do need rest. the Sabbath day of rest fuels the other six days of work. I was really thinking about this today is

Tuesday on Monday yesterday. I was thinking, man, I'm so glad I sabbathed yesterday because for me, it's uncomfortable. I'm from the south. I like to work hard. I like to, you know, go the extra mile. That's just what I like to do. And so sometimes I can like ignore the Sabbath, but I've been trying to make a consistent habit of not ignoring the Sabbath. And I was like, man, God, I'm so glad that I Sabbath on Sunday, even though it feels uncomfortable to my flesh, because I feel sharper, I feel ready, I'm excited, I'm pumped about the week, I feel fuel, I feel like I actually have fuel in my tank to accomplish the things that you have trusted me with. But when we take the Sabbath to go, yeah, you know, I need more than just one Sabbath, I need to like, you know,

rest and I need to do that. We create a culture of laziness, and then we create a culture of passivity. Passivity isn't Sabbath, it's sin. Lasiness isn't a label. for Sabbath isn't a label for laziness. It's sin. Passivity isn't Sabbath. It's sin. And in fact, I don't want to, I love what Tim Tebow says about this, because he has a great balance and he has great stuff on Sabbath and hard work.

He says, I don't want to get to heaven well rested. And what he means by that and what I mean by that is I don't want to get to heaven and go, yeah, God, I was more focused on just not using and not taking responsibility for the things that you've trust me with and not using the gifts that you've given me for. for your glory, I just felt like chilling. I said, no, I don't want to get to heaven a while rested in the sense that, yes, I want to find consistent rhythms of Sabbath in my life and in your life. I want you to find the same that fuel you.

And I want to use the moments that I have with my breath and ability and actions and strength, physically, emotionally, and spiritually, talents, gifts, responsibilities for his glory, expand his kingdom, make impact for the kingdom. heaven, whatever it may be. And the reality is, is like, if you sit back, God will use someone else. And in my mind and in my heart, I'm like, man, God, I want you to use all of us. Like, use me, use you, use whoever you are watching or listening to this. Like, we should desire for God to use us and he wants to use us. But we have to be willing and able vessels to do so. Let me pray for us. Lord Jesus, we thank you for today. God, we thank you for our bodies. We thank you for

our minds. We thank you for our souls. We thank you for will. God. We thank you for your overall will for every believer, but your specific will for each individual watching or listening in this. God, would you just give us passion, passion and zeal for you? We don't want to be lazy in your zeal. We don't want to be slothful in your zeal like Paul writes to Romans 12. We want to be fervent and spirit excited about the responsibilities and talents you've given us to serve you, God. And we want to use it for your glory, not for ourselves. We don't want to build our kingdom. We want to build your kingdom. We want to grow your kingdom. And we know, God, we're not doing you a favor. You don't need us.

You want us. And that's the beauty of using our actions, talents, bodies, and gifts for your glory. God, we love you. We rebuke any laziness in Jesus' name. God, would you give us discipline and strategy? Surround us with godly friendships that would challenge us to continue to walk out, not laziness, but activity to not live in passivity, God. We love you.

We thank you. We praise you in Jesus' name. Amen.