T he only good news that we ought to know and remember is that Jesus Christ had already won the war against sin and death. He has made it possible for us to join Him in the afterlife. All we need now to do is accept Him as He is. God is alive today and it may be sometimes be difficult to see this. The world and its demonic nature has still made it look like that only worldly things matter and that the ultimate goal of each one is to achieve their own personal happiness. This is the biggest lie of all, that we should do all to make us happy. Individual happiness at the expense of someone else is the biggest deception of all. The truth is, our lives are never really about us. It is ultimately about God and about others. It is about how you can provide and give joy even at our own expense. This is the model of ultimate and genuine love that Jesus shown us at the cross. "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s frie...
In the labyrinthine corridors of the human spirit, there dwells a sinister phantom known as sloth, a spectral wraith that cloaks the soul in the shroud of indolence and inertia. Like a shadow that creeps across the sepulcher of the mind, sloth casts its pall over the aspirations and endeavors of mortals, rendering them prisoners of their own lethargy and torpor. In the bleak landscape of human existence, sloth emerges as a specter of desolation, a ghastly apparition that haunts the recesses of the heart with its icy grip.
In the annals of biblical lore, sloth is depicted as a yawning abyss that swallows the soul whole, leaving behind naught but the hollow echo of wasted potential and unfulfilled promise. In the book of Ecclesiastes, King Solomon muses, "The lazy man says, 'There is a lion outside! I shall be slain in the streets!'" (Ecclesiastes 22:13). In this bleak pronouncement, Solomon unveils the self-imposed prison of sloth, wherein the slothful soul cowers in fear of the trials and tribulations of life, seeking refuge in the sanctuary of idleness and apathy.
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus exhorts his disciples to be vigilant and industrious in their labors, warning them against the perils of sloth and complacency. "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation," he counsels, "for the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak" (Matthew 26:41). In this solemn admonition, Jesus reveals the insidious nature of sloth, which lulls the soul into a false sense of security, blinding it to the dangers that lurk in the shadows of the world.
In the parable of the talents, Jesus tells of a master who entrusts his servants with various sums of money, expecting them to invest and multiply their resources. Yet, one servant, out of sloth and fear, buries his talent in the ground, squandering the opportunity for growth and prosperity. "His lord answered and said unto him, 'Thou wicked and slothful servant!'" Jesus declares, " 'Thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed'" (Matthew 25:26). In this chilling tale of missed opportunity, Jesus unmasks the true face of sloth, which robs the soul of its vitality and potential, leaving behind naught but the bitter fruit of regret and stagnation.
In the haunting poetry of Edgar Allan Poe, the sin of sloth finds its dark reflection in the tormented souls of his protagonists, who are ensnared in the web of their own inertia and torpor. In "The Raven," the narrator is consumed by the ennui of his own existence, haunted by the relentless tapping of the raven at his chamber door. "Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before," Poe writes, "But the silence was unbroken, and the darkness gave no token, And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, 'Lenore?'" In this haunting lament, Poe captures the desolation of sloth, which envelops the soul in the pall of despair and resignation.
In conclusion, the sin of sloth emerges as a specter of desolation that haunts the corridors of the human heart with its icy touch. Like a shadow that darkens the soul, sloth robs the spirit of its vitality and ambition, leaving behind naught but the hollow echo of wasted potential and unfulfilled promise. In the words of Poe, "Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before."