We are all capable of being spiritual sluggards. There are times when we don’t want to mix with the rough-and-tumble of life as it is, when our sole objective is to secure peace and comfort for ourselves. The note struck in Hebrews 10 is that of coming together to encourage each other and to spur each other on. This requires a special kind of initiative—the initiative of Christ-realization, not self-realization. To live a remote, retired, secluded life is the antithesis of the spirituality Jesus Christ taught.
The test of our spirituality comes when we find ourselves faced with injustice and cruelty and ingratitude and turmoil. All these can turn us into spiritual sluggards; they can cause us to retreat from the world and to use prayer and Bible reading merely to soothe ourselves. We might start going to God for the sole purpose of getting enjoyment; we might lose interest in manifesting the life of Jesus Christ in our own lives. If we are behaving like this, we can be sure we’ve taken a step in the wrong direction. Enjoyment, peace, and relaxation are effects of the spiritual life, but we try to make them causes.
Peter wanted to rouse Christians to action by reminding them of
what Christ had done. “I think it meet,” he said, “to stir you up by putting you in remembrance” (2 Peter 1:13 kjv). It is a shocking thing to be stirred up by one of God’s provokers—by someone who is full of spiritual activity. The danger of spiritual sluggishness is that we do not want to be stirred up. All we want is repose. Jesus Christ never encouraged the idea of spiritual repose. His instructions were clear: “Go and tell . . .” (Matthew 28:10).
