Nothing. Just plain old nothing. That’s it, nothing more nothing less. It’s what I want to do– nothing. It’s really easy because I don’t have to do anything. Nothing does nothing all by itself. Nothing never pushes you to do more. Nothing is easier to do like nothing else. Nothing. Not a thing. Not a work. Not a movement. All I feel like doing is nothing. No sermon prep. No visiting. No praying. It’s just nothing and me with nothing to do.
Have you been there before? You have the time, the opportunity, the means, but lack the will to get something done. How do you go from doing nothing to doing something? Proverbs 13:4 tells us “The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat.” The Bible, the best productivity book ever, provides us with means to motivate us to getting back to doing something. It’s called diligence. Diligence, you say? How does diligence help me go from nothing to something? Let’s check the definition of diligence from Webby’s 1828 dictionary.
DILIGENT, a. [L.] 1. Steady in application to business; constant in effort or exertion to accomplish what is undertaken; assiduous; attentive; industrious; not idle or negligent; applied to persons.
The keyword to me in that definition is steady. Being diligence means being steady. The reason we have arrived at nothing is because we stopped being steady in our work. Oh, sure, we’ve mulled it about and meditated on why we do nothing only to come up with nothing. Winning the race often means being diligent, being steady to our business, our ministry, our work. Proverbs 13:4 sets us straight by calling those who hath nothing sluggards. A sluggard is a person who stopped their steady course and stopped their diligence for nothing. Remember, nothing will always net you nothing.
Here are three helps that will move you from nothing to something.
- Don’t buy the lie that something new will help you move from nothing. This isn’t a wedding my friend. Something new is not going to help you. You must learn that being diligent will always triumph over nothing. A diligent soul shall be made fat– think full. Full is a good feeling!
- Take note nothing is for losers. Sounds harsh sure, but we gain nothing by doing nothing. We have a big handful of nothing when we do nothing. Nothing will make us lose our time, our friends, our family, our jobs, our ministries… I think you get the picture. If you won nothing, you lost.
- Do something! Be it small or great, avoid nothing at all costs. The smallest task, the simplest chores, the often overlooked mundane tasks of life are the secret to escaping nothingness. Accomplishing these mundane tasks will get you doing something and when you notice you are doing something (something good) it will drive you to continue. An inner passion over takes you and drives you to be steady in doing something more. It’s like riding a bike after a long absence. It feels great and you forgot how much joy it brought.
If you read this far, then at this very moment you accomplished something. You didn’t do nothing! Yeah, you! Go, ahead and pat yourself on the back. Just remember, as one step lead you away from being steady and diligent, one step can lead you back. Let’s take that heap of nothing and do something with it.
