2. A Spiritual Sloth Does Not Hunger and Thirst for God’s Righteousness

2. A Spiritual Sloth Does Not Hunger and Thirst for God’s Righteousness.

“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.” (Isaiah 55:1-2).

Spiritual Sloth: (Greek, “Acedia”); spiritual laziness; indifference and apathy at the deeper levels; lack of spiritual ambition; joyless in sacred pleasures; spiritual ennui; careless attitude toward spiritual matters; a dispassionate lack of mindfulness and soul-care; a listless ignorance of what is eternally important; empty of the energy to escape self-centeredness; a lack of motivation to follow through on spiritual duties and activities; a spiritual sluggard; a sickness of the soul that results in boredom with God; a vague sense of dissatisfaction with anything spiritual; a cold sin of omission that drifts away from any hope of locating life’s true purpose and meaning; the unwillingness to be a diligent seeker of God and His Kingdom; a strong temptation from the evil one to remain spiritually empty and unfulfilled. A spiritual sloth is content to, spiritually speaking, follow the pace of the real sloth by moving at ten feet per minute, 1/9th of a mile per hour, and sleep twenty hours a day.

Descriptions of Spiritual Sloth: 

1. “It is like dying in advance.” (Pope Francis);
2. “It is a deflation of the soul that hinders spiritual resolve.” (anonymous);
3. “It renders a person idle and useless for every spiritual work.” (John Cassian);
4. “It is a sort of heavy, oppressive sadness that presses down on a person’s mind in such a way that he wants to do nothing and no activity pleases him.”  (Thomas Aquinas);
5. “It is a joylessness when faced with God as our supreme joy.” (Peter Kreeft);
6. “It is a supernatural torpor that doesn’t want to take the trouble at asking the great spiritual questions.”  (Blaise Pascal);
7. “It is the sin that is so dead that it doesn’t even seem to rise to the level of sin; a sin so sinful that it isn’t even sin.” (Peter Kreeft).

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” (Matthew 5:6).

Another way of saying this beatitude might be... It’s time to celebrate! Now that you are working up an appetite for God and starving for His righteousness, you will soon enjoy full satisfaction. Congratulations! You are just like a desert pilgrim in a desperate search for food and water, and God is about to bless you in a special way! You are to be envied, because now that you have developed hunger pangs for true righteousness, God won’t let you go hungry for long, and you have shown Him that you are ready for a delicious meal of genuine goodness, a hearty serving of God Himself!

“Blessed” = makarioi; a rich Greek word with many nuances, all in the context of enjoying God’s favor: fully satisfied; deeply joyful; delightfully content; profoundly happy; blissfully fulfilled. When Jesus declares that you are blessed, He is congratulating you, confidently affirming that God is active in your life. You are blessed when you put yourself in the position to be transformed by God. You are blessed, you are most fortunate, you are to be envied, because you now have the unexpected privilege of participating in the Kingdom of God. When you are blessed, you are aware that your blessedness does not depend on your outer circumstances. You are thus filled with hopeful joy. So when Jesus says that you are blessed, it is time to celebrate, for He is looking upon you with favor. In these Beatitudes, Jesus is saying that God wants us to be blessed, He is for us, He wants good to happen to us.

“Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.”  (Ps. 81:10).

Spiritual Laziness. A spiritual sloth does not gather up within himself the energy to crave for anything to do with God. A sloth does not know what it means to be desperate for God or His way of doing things, and that fatal ignorance doesn’t even motivate him in the least. So those who hunger and thirst for God and His profound goodness are supremely blessed to be in that position. The spiritual eager-beavers are never satisfied with the current spiritual state, they continue to have an emptiness and a hunger to want more. They want to do what it takes to go deeper with God, to reflect His righteous character more completely. Those with spiritual ambition ache for more of God’s presence in their lives, to be filled full of God. To search for a human righteousness apart from God, though, is merely an urge to follow an excellent ethical system, a moral program. Every society needs such a system for survival’s sake, but that’s not good enough at a personal level. That Godless pursuit of goodness will get us nowhere in terms of satisfying our spiritual hunger. Social justice indeed reflects a desire of God’s, but it is not an end in itself. Goodness is necessary in society, but it doesn’t transform your heart or save your soul.

“As a thirsty deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul after You, O God! Yes, my whole being thirsts for the living God. Will I ever again drink in God’s presence?” (Psalm 42:1-2).

Right Standing Before God. The personal presence of God begins to transform the heart, the beginning point of deep, permanent righteousness, of a heart that is right with God. Every person has a strain of sin in the heart, the potential for evil. A veneer of goodness looks righteous, but without God’s transforming power the heart is not changed. Society depends on morality, and salvation depends on God. Seeking God and His righteousness with all-consuming focus, starving for His presence, opens the door to a feast of the heart. Hungering and thirsting for God’s goodness and justice is like inviting yourself to God’s table, where you will surely be satisfied.

Now and Forever. This Beatitude implies a lifestyle of nurturing a constant hunger for God, and a desire to be in right standing with God. It’s all about a single-minded passion for His presence and transforming power. Hungering and thirsting means we maintain a daily appetite that will not be satisfied until we eat the Bread of Life (John 6) and drink from the everlasting flow of Living Water (John 4). When we hunger and thirst for God and His righteousness, we are sitting down at the Lord’s table, with God providing our spiritual food. In our daily hunger we are also anticipating our ultimate Feast, the Messianic Banquet (Isaiah 25), the Wedding Supper of the Lamb and His Church (Revelation 19). This future meal will be like no other, a soul-satisfying four-star dinner. Stuffed with food from heaven, we will finally enjoy being filled with goodness and light. We are to be envied when we suffer hunger pangs for God, when we ache for goodness. This hunger is destined to be satisfied, both daily and eternally.

“So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and his righteousness, seek His rule over your life above all things, pursue a life that reflects His righteous life, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:31-33).

Come & Dine (feat. Alex Vitug) (Live) – YouTube

“COME and DINE”

(Refrain) Come and dine, come and dine, you may feast at Jesus’ table all the time.

He who turned water to wine,

To the hungry, still He calls, Come and dine. 

(1.) Jesus has His table spread, where the saints of God are fed,

He invites His people, Come and dine.

With His manna He doth feed and supplies our every need,

Tis sweet to sup with Jesus all the time.

(Refrain)

(2.) The disciples came to land, thus obeying Christ’s command,

For the Master called to them, Come and dine.

There they found their heart’s desire, with the fish upon the fire,

And He satisfies the hungry every time.

(Refrain)

(3.) Soon the Lamb will take His bride to be ever at His side,

All the host of heaven will assembled be.

Twill be a glorious sight, all the saints in spotless white,

And with Jesus we will feast eternally. 

(Refrain).

(song by Charles Widmeyer, 1907; original title, “Jesus has a table spread”).