Written
by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha
God
hates idleness because idleness often leads to or results in sinful actions and
utterances which do not add value to the life of anyone; to the kingdom of God
and do not bless God. A number of biblical case studies attest to this. The
highly immoral wife of Potiphar had far too much time on her hands. She began
to seek ungodly entertainment because she had absolutely no idea of time and
the value of time. If she did, she would have made herself useful to her fellow
women particularly the less privileged ones and children. Instead, she capped
her folly by telling lies against Joseph who refused to fritter time with her
in sin. Please see Genesis Chapter 39.
Jezebel – murderer and idolatress, liar, (1st
Kings Chapter 21 verses 1 to 25); Herodias – murderer and adulterer, (Matthew
Chapter 14 verses 1 to 13); Delilah – hypocrite, deceiver, betrayer, and liar
had far too much time on their hands; they did not know and understand the
value of time so they frittered time in sinful activities which led to the
death of many innocent people.
Also, if you compare the widows described in the
book of 1st Timothy Chapter 5 verses 1 to 16 to the widows of
Zarephath, Prophetess Anna (Luke Chapter 2 verses 36 to 37); the wonderful
mothers of Timothy (2nd Timothy Chapter 1 verse 5); Mary, the travailing
mother of John Mark who opened up her home as a prayer cell for kingdom work
(Acts Chapter 12, Romans Chapter 16 verse 6); the very beautiful and hospitable
women who supported the ministry of Jesus Christ (Luke Chapters 8 verses 2 to
3, 23 verses 55 to 56, 24 verses 1 to 11); the industrious and artistic women
who prepared materials for the building of the tabernacle in the wilderness
((Exodus Chapter 35 verses 25 to 26); the wise mother of Moses who ensured the
safety of her son and nurtured him in righteousness (Exodus Chapter 2); wise
Priscilla in Acts Chapter 18 verses 1 to 3, Romans Chapter 16 verse 3 and of
course the very industrious but unnamed virtuous woman of Proverbs Chapter 31
whom the Bible describes as someone who does not eat the bread of idleness, you
will discover that anyone who does not know and understand the value of time
will fritter time in activities which have no eternal value.
The Consequences of Idleness
Idleness
brings on waste, destruction and poverty. Please see Ecclesiastes Chapter 10
verse 18 and Proverbs
Chapter 14 verse 23.
Hunger
to whoever is idle. Please see Proverbs Chapter 19 verse 15.
Idleness leads to contention. Strife and contention
are actually a function of idleness. This is because people who are busily
engaged spiritually, physically and mentally; investing time in productive
activities do not actually find the time to fritter in strife and contention.
They are too busy with what matters in life, productively engaged to make this
earth a better place for everyone. That explains why productive Isaac who was
busily engaged investing time in economic activities quickly moved away from
the strife and contention in Gerar. He had far more productive activities to do
with his time so he could give quality account to His Maker at the close of the
age. He did not fritter time in irrelevant strife and contention. When the
wells were closed, he chose to dig new wells and even when some of the newly
dug wells were contended for; he kept digging until he dug Rehoboth and the
contenders came asking for peace. Please see Genesis Chapter 26 for details.
Contentious people can actually stop you from
investing time if you pay attention to them. Give them no attention so that you
can be productively engaged investing time in the plans and purposes of God for
your life. Contentious people are a clog in the wheel of progress. The
contentious herdsmen of Lot could have creatively alongside the herdsmen of
Abraham worked out a way of increasing grazing space for their herds. Rather
the, herdsmen resorted to violence. It took divine wisdom from Abraham who knew
that he would someday give an account of his time on earth to the Owner of time
to end the contention between the herdsmen so that time would be invested
rather than frittered.
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