For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
This is what the Lord Almighty says:“ These people say,‘ The time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord’s house.’”Then the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai:“ Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?”
A sluggard says,“ There’s a lion in the road, a fierce lion roaming the streets!”As a door turns on its hinges, so a sluggard turns on his bed.A sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he is too lazy to bring it back to his mouth.A sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven people who answer discreetly.
“ Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord Almighty,“ and I will accept no offering from your hands.