To be idle is
not to be engaged in any productive process. Please see Proverbs Chapter 19
verse 15. God hates idleness because idleness is destructive (Ecclesiastes
Chapter 10 verse 18); idleness is equivalent to slothfulness and laziness which
always bring about destruction, in point of fact, is great destruction. Please
see also Proverbs Chapter 18 verse 9 and 1st Thessalonians Chapter 3
verses 10 to 13 where the Apostle Paul cautioned against idleness.
Furthermore, the
book of Proverbs Chapter 14 verse 23 throws ample light on forms of idleness
such as idle chatter, the kind of chatter that does not lead to spiritual,
physical and mental benefits; does not add to knowledge, does not bring in
income, does not add to spiritual and physical and even emotional well being.
Additionally, wandering from house in aimless visits with no productive purpose
behind the visits is wandering as the outcome of such visits is usually idle
chatter. Also, practitioners of such idleness end up as busy bodies rather than
productive fruitful people.
God hates
idleness. He engaged the idle laborers in productive processes by providing
employment opportunities to keep the idle people busy in productive processes.
These ones were idle because they were not hired to engage in productive
processes which explains why Jesus hired each one of them that were at the
market place; those in search of jobs. It is instructive to note that these
people were not idle people because if they were idle people who enjoyed being
idle, they would not have been at the market place, a place where people in
search of employment opportunities went to be hired. They were not deliberately
idle like the widows described in 1st Timothy Chapter 5 verse 16;
nor those who chose idleness and idle chatter as a way of life. Please read
Matthew Chapter 20 verses 1 to 7.
