Laziness is something we all go through at some point in our lives and while it’s normal, it’s an incredibly difficult feeling to get out of.
There’s one variety of laziness that you should be aware of, which is spiritual laziness. From the term itself, spiritual laziness means being complacent in your beliefs and values that you choose everything else over your relationship with God.
To put it simply, it means being lazy enough to practice your faith. In this article, we’ll be talking about everything you need to know about dealing with spiritual laziness.
What is spiritual laziness?
Spiritual laziness is the lack of trusting God for anything and everything in your life. It doesn’t just have to do with your laziness to do tasks to practice your faith such as praying and going to Church, but it’s more on your complacency in your faith.
While these actions aren’t the basis of your beliefs, they’re important as they reflect your relationship with God. Activities like paying attention to sermons help you understand who God is and if you’re spiritually lazy, you become completely complacent in your faith.
You do everything else in your life except focus on God.
Suggested article: Consequences of spiritual laziness.
Causes of spiritual laziness
Several factors contribute to spiritual laziness in an individual, one of them being a loss of a relationship with God. You’ve become complacent in your actions towards your faith because your relationship with God isn’t as strong as it used to be. You’d rather be doing other things such as distractions to avoid dealing with the reality that your faith isn’t as strong as it once was.
It’s also possible that you became spiritual laziness because of specific sins in your life such as pride, anger, or lust. If you’re not careful, the sin you’ve been trying to overcome can get you further away from your faith and God.
Another cause for spiritual laziness is having the wrong set of priorities. It’s easy to get attached to insignificant things like money and careers that you think you don’t need God anymore, but that’s far from true. Holding on to success and wealth aren’t bad, but it becomes unhealthy when you choose the wrong set of priorities and set no time aside for your faith.
When it comes down to it, spiritual laziness is an effect of something negative in your life, whether it’s sin, difficult circumstances, or something else entirely. However, you can always choose to overcome spiritual laziness by changing your mindset about your faith.
Tips for overcoming spiritual laziness
1. Conquer your thoughts
Your mind is the most powerful tool you have and this can either work to your advantage or not. It’s easy to feel consumed by thoughts that remind you of your worthlessness and inadequacy.
It’s possible that the core motivation behind your spiritual laziness if you feel you’re not worthy enough to be in a relationship with God or you think your identity will always be defined by your sins, but this is far from accurate.
God is always wanting a real relationship with you, but only He is waiting for the initiative coming from you. You can overcome your spiritual laziness by conquering your thoughts and stop believing in everything your mind convinces you of. This might be easier said than done, but you can overcome spiritual laziness by choosing the path of faith rather than complacency.
2. Find your purpose
Aligning and positioning yourself back in God’s direction will help you overcome the spiritual laziness you’re dealing with. Being complacent with your faith can be caused by a lack of knowledge and direction in life.
It’s possible that you don’t know which direction you’re going or you feel confused about your life purpose and those conflicts affect even your spiritual life. However, you must realize that God can help you find provision and meaning in your life.
By finding your purpose, can help you overcome the spiritual laziness that hinders you from developing a real relationship with God. It’s easy to dwell in spiritual laziness when you feel like life has no absolute meaning anymore and when everything feels routinary and mundane.
This also means following your passion and trying different things that lead you closer to your purpose. Even when those things aren’t related to your faith, you’ll be surprised how spending time on things you love can lead you closer to your faith.
3. Deal with what causes your spiritual laziness
As mentioned above, there are several causes of spiritual laziness and by finding which one resonates most with you, then you can easily overcome it.
For instance, if the cause is the lack of a relationship with God, there are a lot of ways you can build and work on that relationship such as praying or learning more about him through the Bible. You need to actively counter your spiritual laziness to deal with it and you can’t simply expect to counter it without doing anything.
If your spiritual laziness is caused by having the wrong set of priorities, it’s time to realign yourself with what truly matters in life, which is your faith and relationship with God.
4. Find a community or support group
In a world where it’s incredibly easy to lose your faith and lose sight of what’s important, you need to hold on to people that will bring you closer to God.
Finding a community will help you get out of your spiritual laziness and actively start practicing your faith again. The right people will also keep you accountable for your actions and will be honest enough to tell you right from wrong. They’ll guide you towards a path that actively avoids spiritual laziness as a community will keep you accountable enough to build a relationship with God.
There are several ways to find a community or group of people that share the same faith as you, one of which is going to the Church. There’s no better place to find people to help you overcome spiritual laziness than going to the place where everyone shares a mutual love for God, no matter what things they’re going through.
5. Don’t let pride consume you
As humans and people of God, we’re all guilty of letting our pride and arrogance get in the way, even when we need the most help to overcome difficulties and challenges in our life.
However, you won’t achieve anything with pride and you won’t get anywhere near overcoming spiritual laziness. Realize that it’s perfectly okay to ask for help, especially when it comes to developing your faith and becoming closer to God.
Your loved ones are there for a reason so if you need encouragement on your faith, you can always get assurance from them. Even if asking for help is one of the hardest things you’ll ever do in overcoming this struggle, you won’t get anywhere by dealing with it alone.
Spiritual laziness is a real struggle that everyone goes through at some point in their spiritual lives because we tend to become complacent with our faith over time. You won’t always have the motivation to spend time with God, but in those moments, those are the moments where you need to run to Him and ask for guidance and help further. No matter what steps you take, pride is never the answer.
6. Always choose God
While you can’t always control the spiritual laziness that happens to you, you must choose your faith and your relationship with God.
Choosing God is the primary way you can overcome spiritual laziness. Even when it’s not convenient and even when it doesn’t come naturally to you, choose God as the primary priority in your life. Find meaning and purpose in serving God and doing everything you can to strengthen your bond with God.
This also means doing the necessary action to strengthen your faith such as praying, serving in ministry, and learning more about God. Even in your pain and even in difficult circumstances, you must choose God above all else.
If you’re feeling a lack of energy and motivation, realize that only in God can you find the real meaning of rest. Everything you do in life revolves around choosing God but when you’re so used to feeling complacent, it’s difficult to go back to being active in your faith.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I hope this article was able to shed insight into everything you need to know about spiritual laziness. Even if you’re dealing with spiritual laziness in your faith, this doesn’t necessarily mean it’s impossible to overcome.
By determining the causes behind your spiritual laziness, you’ll find it easier to work on your faith and get back on a relationship with God. You can’t always control feeling this way, but realize that you can always find your way closer to God when you constantly choose that path. As a believer, spiritual laziness won’t make you forget your faith entirely, but it can hinder you from a relationship with God.