King Solomon wasn't considered the wisest person who ever lived up to his time for nothing! Today's Scripture from Proverbs 26:16 offers an incredible insight about the ATTITUDE of the slothful or lazy person:  ¹⁶Lazy people consider themselves smarter  than seven wise counselors. The attitude of the slothful person is I AM SMART!  I'm not working hard.  I'm not sweating the small stuff.  I'm not worried about tomorrow.  And ALL of those statements sound good to us on the surface.

The reality is the Bible affirms that we need to work SMARTER as well as harder.  King Solomon told us to sharpen our axes before we start cutting wood.  Millennia later Steven Covey made millions of dollars by telling us to "sharpen our saw" as one of the seven habits of highly effective people.  We're reminded by health professionals that stress literally kills us, so we shouldn't sweat the small stuff.  Jesus told us not to worry about tomorrow.  No wonder lazy people think they're smarter than seven wise counselors! On the surface it looks as if they are.  But the truth is there's a difference between working smarter instead of harder and not working at all.  There's a difference between not sweating the small stuff and not caring.  There's a difference between not worrying about tomorrow and being irresponsible.  The wise person does the former, while the lazy person does the latter in each example.

 Human nature always seeks to justify or rationalize its patterns.  Thus, the lazy person who says, "I'm not lazy. I'm just smarter than the rest of you."  As we go about this day, let's be sure that our attitudes reflect wisdom rather than laziness!   Read Proverbs 26:16 and then take some time to reflect on whether you have some of that attitude in your heart.  If you do---repent.  If you don't--praise the Lord!

 Let's pray:  Heavenly Father, please fill us with Your Holy Spirit so we'll live with wise attitudes and accomplish much for Your Kingdom.  This we pray in Jesus' name.  Amen.