How Can I Overcome Laziness According to the Bible?
Laziness is simply a bad habit produced by a mindset.
Most people think laziness is a physical problem, and it definitely can be. But most of the time, laziness comes from a wrong mindset that leads to bad habits. If we can change our mindset, then we can change our laziness problem.
The physical body is capable of much more than you think. I catch myself all the time thinking “I’m so tired”, but in reality I am not actually tired. I am just caught in lazy habits. Where does laziness come from and does the Bible give us any help in overcoming it? Absolutely. The Bible has solutions for every area of life.
Here are 5 ways to overcome laziness according to the Bible:
1. Focus on Your True Identity
Don’t allow what you do to become who you are. Your identity comes from your Creator, and He didn’t create you as a lazy human being.
God created you to be fruitful and productive. He created you to be a blessing. This is the truth about you. If you have developed lazy habits, you’re actually operating outside of the way you were designed! When you begin to think and operate the way God designed you, you will actually be so much happier and fulfilled.
Satan is the one who constantly tells you that you are lazy. He knows that if he can get you to believe this lie, you will become this way. The Bible says that as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.
For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. Proverbs 23:7 NKJV
If the enemy has sold you the lie that you are a lazy person , you may have linked arms with this lie and made it a part of who you are. If you accept it as truth about yourself, you will experience it in your life. This only reinforces the lie.
Only the One who made you can tell you how you’re made.
Reject the lie that just because you have adopted lazy habits it’s who you are. Refuse to agree with this identity. You are who God says you are – a person created to be productive and fruitful.
2. Change Your Thinking
If you have developed a mindset that says “I’m lazy”, or “I’m disorganized”, or “I’m not very ambitious”, the first step is to realize that just because you’ve thought that way for so long doesn’t make it truth. It might feel like the truth to you, but it’s not.
How you think will determine how you feel, and how you feel plays a major part in influencing the choices you make.
If you’re thinking negative all the time, it will zap your energy. Hopeful, inspired thoughts will give you energy and peace. Start putting into practice what the Bible tells us about how to think, and you will see your energy level increase.
Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. Philippians 4:8
As you become a doer of this verse, negative emotions won’t be allowed to snuff out your energy and kill your productivity. Make a conscious effort to only think about what Phillipians 4:8 tells you to think on and you will experience a renewed energy for life.
3. Take Authority Over Your Emotions
Laziness isn’t something you were born with. It’s a behavior you learned along the way that has become a bad habit. And just like any other bad habit, it can be broken!
There’s an emotion that always proceeds making a lazy choice. Maybe you feel tired, or overwhelmed, or defeated, so you choose to watch TV instead of doing what you know needs to be done. The moment you feel that emotion, you can take authority over it.
Jesus has given us authority over our emotions. You can speak directly to your emotions. For example, if you feel overwhelmed, you can say out loud “feeling of overwhelm, I take authority over you in the Name of Jesus. You leave me right now. I am not overwhelmed”.
As you begin to take authority over your emotions, you will choose different actions and your thoughts will begin to line up with the change.
Commit your works to the Lord, and your thoughts will be established. Proverbs 16:3 NKJV
In some situations, a spirit of fatigue could be responsible for the laziness you are experiencing. This demonic spirit usually brings with it laziness, weariness, and excess tiredness. In a case where a demonic spirit is involved, renounce the evil spirit in the Name of Jesus and it has to flee!
Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. James 4:7 NKJV
4. Reject Condemnation
Condemnation will keep you trapped in a bad cycle. You make a bad choice, so you feel guilty and condemn yourself, then you end up repeating the behavior. To break the cycle, you have to break the condemnation first, and then the actions will change.
Condemnation makes you feel hopeless, like change is not possible for you. Next time you choose to be lazy instead of productive, tell yourself “I am a productive person” instead of beating yourself up for acting lazy. When you choose to think and say what God says about yourself instead of how you’re acting, it breaks the thought process that keeps you trapped.
If you have received Jesus Christ into your life, you have been made a new creation, and all things are of God. God is not lazy, and neither are you.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, 2 Corinthians 5:17-18
5. Take Care of Your Body
There’s no denying that the way you treat your body has an impact on your energy level. It’s not everything that matters, but it does play a part.
The way you eat can influence how you feel and even how you think. Choosing to eat healthy food in moderation will help you to feel the way you want to and accomplish the things you want to do in life.
If you are not getting enough sleep, you are violating how God created you to function. Your body needs rest, and the Bible says it is in vain to sacrifice sleep for other pursuits.
It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows; for so He gives His beloved sleep. Psalm 127:2 NKJV
When you get enough sleep your mind and body are able to function the way they are designed.
Staying active and getting some exercise is also important to your energy levels. When you choose to go on a walk, oxygen is able to flow throughout your body, including to your brain. Even a small amount of physical activity on a regular basis will make a big difference.
Taking care of your body is being a good steward of what God has given you. Your body is the very temple of the Holy Spirit, and should be treated with honor.
Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 1 Corinthians 6:19 NKJV