Real Sloth
John 9:4
“I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.”
Some creatures are so bizarre that they suggest a lesson to us. Yet even in their strangeness we see that they have been perfectly provided for by their Creator.
One such example is the three-toed sloth. It rarely moves, spending about 18 hours a day sleeping upside down in a tree. When it does bother to move, it is in ultra-slow motion. It is not unusual for the three-toed sloth to take 30 seconds to shift one leg a few inches.
The three-toed sloth doesn’t do well on the ground because he can’t walk or even crawl. If a sloth is placed on the ground it v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y pulls itself along on its belly to a tree. However, sloths hang effortlessly in the trees even when asleep. Their grasp of the tree is so solid that they continue to hang in the trees even after they have died.
Even though sloths are hunted for food by the South American Indians, the three-toed sloth is the most abundant tree-dwelling mammal in South America’s forests. Despite the seeming helplessness of the three-toed sloth, it is doing well because it has been perfectly designed for its life. Because its life doesn’t seem to amount to much, it was named after one of the so-called seven deadly sins. This creature, that has a face only a mother could love, presents an image with which neither child nor adult would want to be associated. Yet the sloth still has God’s care. The nearly helpless condition of the sloth reminds us that we are completely helpless when it comes to our relationship with God. Only because of the efforts of our Savior, Jesus Christ, do we have peace with God. Let’s not be slothful about telling others of the forgiveness of sins!
Prayer: Dear Father in heaven, I thank You that Your love knows no bounds. Energize me as I do Your work. Do not let me become filled with sloth or become uncaring about Your work. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Author: Paul A. Bartz
REF.: Wilder, R. When laziness pays off. 1983. Science Digest. p. 112.
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