Are You a Slacker?

In a Business Week poll, employees were asked “Are you one of the top 10 percent of performers in your company?” A whopping 90 percent of all employees said yes, including 97 percent of the executives! But the math does not compute. Ninety percent of us can’t be in the top 10 percent. So, what is going on?

As athletes and coaches, we often think we are the hardest workers and others are the slackers, partly because we judge ourselves based on our intentions and others based on their actions. We don’t think other people are as committed as we are—that they avoid their responsibilities, are always late and make excuses. But, of course, that’s not us. We are hard-core competitors. Our friends, family members, teammates, co-workers, and maybe even our bosses are slackers, but we are not! 

Reality check: We all suffer from the slacker disease in one way or another.

Pastor, author and speaker Chip Ingram defines discipline as “simply doing the right thing at the right time.” Slackers struggle with discipline and often just don’t do the right thing at the right time. But according to the Bible, discipline is not about perfection, but consistency. It’s about the pursuit and resolve.

One of our main responsibilities is to abide in Christ, and avoiding that commitment is deadly. We meet so many people who say they love God but who rarely show it. Generally when a person really loves something or someone, there’s proof, like when someone really loves a certain sports team. They wear the jerseys, go to the games, keep up on the stats and fly the flags. And, they talk about it all the time!

When we say we love God, is there any evidence to back it up? Are we consumed with Him? Does our schedule reflect it? Are we pursuing God-opportunities?

Theologian E.M. Bounds cut to the quick when he said, “Our laziness after God is our crying sin.” We have good intentions, but good intentions without consistent actions are worthless. Instead of good intentions we should have “God intentions.” God intentions stick! Good intentions are centered on our plans, but God intentions are based on what God wants to do in and through us.

Today, let’s make the decision to become a generation of athletes and coaches who seek God first and with all our hearts, giving our passions and desires to Him. In return, the anointing and power of God will consume us and transform us, and our hunger after God will define us!