I posted awhile back on my fight in our household with laziness.  I thought I might share some new insight gained as we search the Word in order to gain a Biblical perspective on this subject. This morning as the kids and I were looking up verses on laziness we came across this one:

"A lazy man does not roast his prey" Prov. 12:27

Seems like a simple verse but there is really so much to it when we reason it through and look to the personal application in it.

To understand where I am going with this I am first going to establish that work = ownership. So to do this let's go back to the writings of John Locke to see his wonderful reasoning on this very point.

Taken from "The Works of John Locke" the 1714 edition chapter V titled "Of Property" Mr Locke states:

"Whether we consider natural reason, which tells us that men, being once born, have a right to their preservation, and consequently to meat and drink and such other things as Nature affords for their subsistence, or "revelation," which gives us an account of those grants God made of the world to Adam, and to Noah and his sons, it is very clear that God, as King David says (Psalm 115. 16), "has given the earth to the children of men," given it to mankind in common."

So it is clear that the earth and all of it's abundance were given by God to all of mankind for the use of preservation of life. So now the question is "How is this abundance to be received?" Locke states:

"God, who hath given the world to men in common, hath also given them reason to make use of it to the best advantage of life and convenience. The earth and all that is therein is given to men for the support and comfort of their being. And though all the fruits it naturally produces, and beasts it feeds, belong to mankind in common, as they are produced by the spontaneous hand of Nature, and nobody has originally a private dominion exclusive of the rest of mankind in any of them, as they are thus in their natural state, yet being given for the use of men, there must of necessity be a means to appropriate them some way or other before they can be of any use, or at all beneficial, to any particular men. "

So again "How is it attained?" Locke answers:

"Though the earth and all inferior creatures be common to all men, yet every man has a "property" in his own "person." This nobody has any right to but himself. The "labour" of his body and the "work" of his hands, we may say, are properly his. Whatsoever, then, he removes out of the state that Nature hath provided and left it in, he hath mixed his labour with it, and joined to it something that is his own, and thereby makes it his property. It being by him removed from the common state Nature placed it in, it hath by this labour something annexed to it that excludes the common right of other men."

He then gives this example:

"Though the earth and all inferior creatures be common to all men, yet every man has a "property" in his own "person." This nobody has any right to but himself. The "labour" of his body and the "work" of his hands, we may say, are properly his. Whatsoever, then, he removes out of the state that Nature hath provided and left it in, he hath mixed his labour with it, and joined to it something that is his own, and thereby makes it his property. It being by him removed from the common state Nature placed it in, it hath by this labour something annexed to it that excludes the common right of other men."

  So what does all of this have to do with the opening verse I gave?  Again let's look at Locke's words:

"It will, perhaps, be objected to this, that if gathering the acorns or other fruits of the earth, etc., makes a right to them, then any one may engross as much as he will. To which I answer, Not so. The same law of Nature that does by this means give us property, does also bound that property too. "God has given us all things richly." Is the voice of reason confirmed by inspiration? But how far has He given it us- "to enjoy"? As much as any one can make use of to any advantage of life before it spoils, so much he may by his labour fix a property in. Whatever is beyond this is more than his share, and belongs to others. Nothing was made by God for man to spoil or destroy."

 Okay so let's think this through - if I go fishing, anything I catch is mine by right of labor - this fish being provided for me and all mankind to take posession of by working for it - if I go home and cook the fish for my family and we nourish our bodies by eating then I have done exactly what God had intended for me to do - but if I take it home and let it rot in my posession then I have in essense stolen that fish from someone else that could have put it to use for their own family. And taking it a step further, is it coveting posessions?

So here is my question - how many of us are doing this right now? How many of us have posessions in our home just taking up space and not being used? Ever buy an outfit pnly to get it home and not like the style afterall and then leave it in your closet never to be worn? Ever buy a book never to be read? Ever buy food or grow food that spoiled in your fridge? Ever buy a project never to be done? Do you have storage containers in you attic, closets, basement, or garage full of items that you can't even recall right now? Did you buy the latest greatest kitchen gizmo or exercise gadget and there it sits completely useless taking up space in your house? Do our kids have so many toys that they can't walk across their rooms without stepping on and breaking at least one of them? Do they have favorite clothing they have outgrown and can't part with? 

Yes- I thing we all can say that at least one of these rings true in our home. And what does God say?

"A lazy man does not roast his prey" Prov. 12:27

 So not only are we coveting and stealing but we are also being lazy! Oh my! Some of the rules we have in our house have helped us to combat this and I thought I would share - I hope all of you will share your ideas too! ( :

1. Our rooms get tidied every morning - if we have too much to contain neatly then it is time to reduce. Work = ownership!

2. If anyone leaves there belongings out in the mutual living space in our house, the item/s immediately get taken to the pound where it takes $.25 to get them out - if they do not have any money then they have to do a chore to earn them out. Again work = ownership! We also have an outdoor pound for items left out in the yard - bikes, bike helmets, scooters, ect.

3. If they do have money to spend and they still have items in the pound then they can not spend it until they have bought their items out of the pound. They have not earned the right to own new items when they are not taking care of the items they already own.

4. A space is not organized unless there is room to spare so when new items come in then old ones go out. If the items we are storing get used, like they should in order to keep them, then they should be easy to access - we should not have to sift through piles of junk to get to what we want! This is why the PaperBack Swap is such a great idea! Swapping the no longer useful books for new ones that we can use!

Check out more tips at Rocks in my Dryer -this week is parenting tips!