Do you want to get more done? Would you like to achieve more in your day? Would you like to finish each day with a deep sense of fulfilment for your day’s efforts? I would! If you do as well, then we will both have to face one of the biggest challenges many of us will ever face. This challenge is often difficult to confront because it is so cleverly disguised. The biggest challenge that many of us will face (and embarrassingly, I speak from personal experience and five decades of observation) is how we can confront and overcome this. One of the reasons this is so difficult to deal with is due to its tricky use of disguises. It more often than not disguises itself as busyness. I am referring to laziness.
And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.
Matthew 5:41
Matthew 5:41
Some of the busiest people I know are also the laziest. Laziness is often confused with idleness. Of course, it can be. But from my perspective, this is its rarest form. The laziness I am blighted with masquerades itself as highly active busyness. And although this will probably upset my fellow lazyites, one of the reasons we lazyites are so prone to laziness is that we rarely do nothing. Naturally, this revelation will confuse those outsiders who presume that laziness always means doing nothing. This is why some of the laziest people I’ve ever known have also been some of the busiest.
¶ Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time.
Colossians 4:5
Colossians 4:5
Dictionaries are wonderful for learning how to spell words, but they are not always similarly helpful for defining words. Websters’ Dictionary defines “lazy” as:
unwilling to work or use energy; characterized by lack of effort or activity.
Noah Webster mastered 26 ancient languages before writing his famous American-English dictionary
But (and maybe it was because Noah Webster was one of the hardest working and most diligent men who have ever lived) his definition of lazy only encompassed the above definition. If Dr. Noah Webster had ever met me, he would have had to add to his definition the following:
Laziness is not doing what should be done.
I have found that when I have to do something that I don’t want to do, I yield too easily to the temptation to doing those things that really could wait but make me look too busy to do the very thing I should have been doing.
This is why the most effective people are often those who have come to know they are extremely susceptible to laziness and have come to resist the temptation to regard busyness as an excuse for it. Thus, diligence is acting on a commitment to do what should be done – even when we don’t want to do it or even feel like doing it. And here’s the good news for people like me, and all my fellow lazyites-
for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.
Philippians 2:13
Philippians 2:13
Sometimes I’m afraid to do what I should do. Sometimes I feel inadequate to do what I should do. Sometimes I don’t like to admit that I don’t know how to do what I should do. But as I behold Christ I see the answer (2Cor. 3:18). Jesus calls me to take up my cross and follow Him (Matt. 16:24). He calls me to do what I should do and promises to give me the strength and assistance to do it (1Peter 4:10-11). As I have prayed for God’s help in these moments of facing up to the should, I have noticed that God’s answer to my cry for help is to send people whom He has gifted and anointed to fill my lack – just as He uses me to fill up their lack in different ways.
You should commit to the House of God every Sunday. Don’t let busyness tell you otherwise. You should commit to loving those God places in your life. Don’t let busyness keep you from spending time with those you love. You should strive to grow as a follower of Christ by deepening your understanding of God’s Word, enriching your prayer time, and strengthening your fellowship with your brothers and sisters in Christ. You shouldn’t rush off all the time.
For all Noah Webster’s brilliance and his unparalleled command of language, I’m both amazed and not surprised that he didn’t really have a good understanding of just how cunning laziness can be. But fortunately for me and lazyite comrades, Jesus Christ most certainly does understand it and offers the power to overcome it. In fact, His entire mission is dependent upon it.
Pastor Andrew
As President Abraham Lincoln said, “You can’t trust everything you read on the internet!” Therefore, I’m not sure whether Bill Gates actually did say it or not, but the claim is made that he once said, “I always choose for a lazy person to do a difficult job. Because he will find an easy way to do it!” This contrasts with the different approach, “If you want something done, ask a busy person to do it!” The question therefore is: Which is better?The lazy approach or the busy approach?
While Bill Gates may assume that lazy people are incredibly smart people, I think they also deserve another compliment. Lazy people are often energetic people as well. In fact, many lazy people are so energetic, they can look downright busy! 
Laziness has more to do with a lack of effectiveness and appropriateness. Someone may be busy trying to scale a wall using a ladder. They may build a ladder, move it into position, test it, and vigorously go up and down it. But if it is the wrong type of ladder, or the wrong size ladder, or worse still, the wrong wall – they are being lazy, despite their hard work and busyness! Diligence, not busyness, is the opposite of laziness. Diligence strives for effectiveness and appropriateness. This requires self-discipline and persistence. It does what must be done – what has to be done – even when we are tired, afraid, uncomfortable, or uninformed. Laziness is rarely prepared to make sacrifices in order to be effective. Diligence nearly always, if not always, involves having to make sacrifices. 
And translating this stand-off into the spiritual arena we can soon see that spiritual depth comes from resting in the finished work of Christ for our salvation. In this sense, we are saved by works – it’s just that it’s not our own, but Christ’s. Yet diligence and hard-work is also required for spiritual depth. The Apostle Peter told believers that they needed to be diligent to be found in Christ (refer to 1Peter 1:10), and the Apostle Paul told the Corinthians that they needed to work diligently to continually be beholding Christ (2Cor. 3:18).
There are things that I should have done by now. Instead of doing them I have found what I call 'reasons' as to why I can't get to them yet. My 'reasons' look convincing. They sound reasonable. They take up my time. They draw me away and justify their distraction. But still, the important things that need doing remain undone. But to the outsider my busyness makes look productive (the arch-enemy of laziness).
Jesus Christ was the most undistracted person in the history of the entire world. Jesus Christ was the most productive person who has ever walked our planet. Jesus Christ is the only person to have ever breathed air who has never offered an excuse in the place of His obligations. Yet He encountered distracted, unproductive, excuse-making people all the time. And thanks to me, He still does. In Luke 9 we read how he called certain people to action who instead of appropriately responding, offered excuses for why they were too busy to do what He summoned them to do.