1.  Okay, we’re going to have a pop quiz today.  Don’t get scared! This is only a learning tool, just to see if you’ve been paying attention.  It won’t count on your final grade.  (But then again, maybe it will!)  Here’s the question: What did Pope Gregory the Great call The Seven Deadly Sins.  Pride.  Envy.  Anger.  Greed. Gluttony.  Good!  You have been paying attention!  Today we will inspect the last two, the first of which is Lust.

2.  Lust.  Lust-lane, I’m calling it, after the weed purselane.  As with many weeds, purselane can be considered both a weed and a flower, depending upon where it grows and whether it has taken over.  These weeds are actually packaged and sold!  I bought these with my own good money (before I knew it was a weed), and tomorrow I’ll plant them in our garden.  Purselane is also called Portulaca, or moss rose – and I love moss roses!  They’re beautiful, with all their different colors.  I do not understand how purselane can be considered a weed!  It’s a puzzle.

3.  The same puzzle is true of the deadly sin of Lust.  It’s hard to believe that something God intended to be beautiful often is not.  But it happens!  Lust is a craving for physical pleasure which has gotten out of control, turning what should be beautiful into an ugly reality.  Lust is the self-destructive (and other-destructive) drive for pleasure way out of proportion to its worth.  When we are filled with lust, we become so intent on being pleased, satisfying our own needs, that we use other people (or, rather, mis-use and abuse).  Others become objects to serve us – bring us food, run our business, give us pleasure.  The list goes on and on.  William White^[i] reminds us of Paul’s words in 1st Corinthians: “Love never ends.”  But lust has no real lasting quality.  Lust is based on desire, not commitment.  Whereas love is a marathon runner, lust runs the ten-yard dash.   It originates in the loins, not the heart.  Love endures all things; lust endures nothing.”  Physical pleasure can be a beautiful thing, like the Purselane Portulaca Moss Rose, or it can destroy us, take over our relationships, like the weed Lust-lane takes over the garden of our life.  Be careful with it!

4.  And be careful with the Sloth-bur, too!  Sloth is sticky, like its namesake the Cocklebur!  You’ve seen cockleburs, haven’t you.  From a distance, the head can look like a flower, but once you get against it, you’ll be sorry!  Sloth is the same way – it can mask itself as some admirable qualities, like caution and prudence, when it is really fear or apathy.   Do you remember the story Jesus told about the man who had to leave town?  (Matthew 25)  He left his property with three of his servants.  Two of them invested and made a good return on their investment – the man was very happy with their actions.  The third one, however, says “I was afraid, so I just buried what you gave me, to keep it safe.  Here, you can have it back.”  Jesus says the man became very angry.  “You wicked and slothful servant!  You ought to have invested it, so I could have received what was my own with interest.”  Now, we could sympathize with the poor servant and say he was simply being cautious.  “A prudent investor is a wise investor.”  Sloth so often disguises itself as being calm and serene, keeping a level head and being open-minded.  But that is often not the case.  Sloth is alive and well, and has always been!  Sloth is what plagued the Church at Laodicea.  They had no zeal!

5.  But sloth is more than being lazy.  Our sign committee had thought about illustrating the deadly sin of sloth by just not bothering to put up a sign this week – let it go, leave it blank.  And that would have made a good point, or a good half-point!  The truth is that some of the busiest people in the world keep busy just so they don’t have to look at what is happening around them.  You see, if they don’t notice who is hungry or lonely or hurting, then they won’t have to do anything about it.  William White writes his book “in big letters” so we cannot miss what he says: “Sloth is a crowd of people turning their heads when a woman is battered on the streets of New York City; sloth is a chemical company pouring toxic waste into a landfill, sloth is well-fed Americans ignoring the needs of the poor and lonely in their own neighborhoods.”^[ii]  Sloth hits even closer to home!  What if you’re a parent who sends your children to bed earlier than you really need to, just so you can watch a program they shouldn’t see?   No harm, no foul, you say?  Wrong!  That’s sloth!  Devotion to your children would have you spending some good time with them.  Or, say you’re a good student who takes only the easy classes so you won’t have to work too hard?  That’s pure sloth.  Love of learning would have you taking the next level of courses.  Or maybe you have a strong opinion about a particular matter, and never read opposing positions because it’ll make you have to think.  That is sloth.  Zeal would have you become well-rounded in many issues.

6.  There they are.  The Seven Deadly Sins.  Pride.  Envy.  Anger.  Greed.  Gluttony.  Lust.  Sloth.  Weeds!  All of them!  Let us resolve to do everything we can to weed these sins out of the gardens of our lives, so we can keep our flowers growing their best.