Sluggards do not plough in season; so at harvest time they look but find nothing.
This proverb against laziness and drawing on agricultural metaphors is applicable to many situations. The pastoral ministry is a particularly obvious one, especially given that the work of the minister is chiefly one of ploughing (and sowing) with the prospect of a harvest in due time. One clear disadvantage is if the pastor is lazy and neglects the work. There can be no harvest then.
Martin Luther has written
It is the devil, it is the world, it is our flesh that are raging and raving against us. Therefore, dear sirs and brethren, pastors and preachers, pray, read, study, be diligent. Truly, this evil, shameful time is not the season for being lazy, for sleeping and snoring. Use the gift that has been entrusted to you, and reveal the mystery of Christ.
And
Some pastors and preachers are lazy and no good. They rely on these and other good books to get a sermon out of them. They do not pray; they do not study; they do not read; they do not search the Scripture. It is just as if there were no need to read the Bible for this purpose. They use such books as offer them homiletical helps in order to earn their yearly living; they are nothing but parrots and jackdaws, which learn to repeat without understanding, though our purpose and the purpose of these theologians is to direct preachers to Scripture with such books and exhort them to plan to defend our Christian faith after our death, against the devil, the world, and the flesh.
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