Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8 NIV)
F
rom a child, I have always heard this adage, “An idle mind is the devil’s workshop.” Of course, when I heard it over and over as a child, I did not know exactly what it meant. In later years, no one had to tell me what it meant because I experienced it. It is always nice to have quiet time, but don’t linger too long. This will be the very time that the devil will come around creeping and put all sorts of things into your head that should not be there. Satan is not going to come around to bring you anything good. Remember that! His thoughts are always focused on that which is evil. However, this adage is biblical in nature, but not exact. Proverbs 16:27 (TLB) is closest to it: “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop; idle lips are his mouthpiece.” The King James Version of this Scripture states, “An ungodly man diggeth up evil: and in his lips there is as a burning fire.” The Good News Translation (GNT) reads, “Evil people look for ways to harm others; even their words burn with evil.” No matter the translation, beware of idleness because your thoughts have more power than you may think!
There are several verses in the Word that speak of “idleness.” Let’s take a look at just a few from the English Standard Version (ESV):
“Besides that, they learn to be idlers, going about from house to house, and not only idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying what they should not” (I Timothy 5:13).
“Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep, and an idle person will suffer hunger” (Proverbs 19:15).
“For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies” (II Thessalonians 3:11).
“She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness” (Proverbs 31:27).
“And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all” (I Thessalonians 5:14).
As you can see in just these five verses, there is nothing positive about idleness. Therefore, an idle mind can be the devil’s workshop. Continually sitting around with nothing to do can be dangerous because what you’re doing is allowing the devil to take control of your mind. If you take no positive action, negativity, dangerous thoughts, all manner of evil, etc. will fill the void, and these negative thoughts can turn into negative actions if allowed.
As it has been said, “If you realize how powerful your thoughts are, you would never think a negative thought.” Ponder the adage further as you read this short story, from inspirationalstories.eu, about the power of your thoughts. The chilling ending leaves a powerful impression.
“A man was travelling, and suddenly he got to the paradise. He sat down under the desire tree (There is such a tree in the paradise, sitting under which, you can immediately fulfill any of your desires; you just need to think about them.) and thought: ‘I am hungry, so it would be nice to have a bite right now.’ And when he just thought about this, a table full of different dishes that he was thinking about appeared right before him.
“Wow! – The man was surprised, – ‘But it can’t be!’ – He thought so, and the table with dishes disappeared immediately. ‘It would be nice to get it back!’ – And the dishes appeared again. He ate a plenty of the dishes – he had never eaten such tasty food before.
“After satisfying his hunger, he thought: ‘It would be nice to drink something’ – and a perfect wine appeared immediately, because there are no restrictions in the paradise.
“Lying in the shadow of the tree and drinking wine, he started wondering: ‘Why do these miracles happen? It just can’t be that everything would be so good – probably some ghosts played a joke on me.’
“Suddenly, the ghosts appeared. They were terrible and looked as if he had imagined them. The man became scared and thought: ‘Now, they will kill me!’ And they killed him.
Everyone lives in the world that he desires.”
Be careful of your thoughts! Televangelist Joyce Meyer warned, “You cannot have a positive life and a negative mind!” Which do you desire to have? Only you can answer that question!
Have a wonderfully blessed week, be thankful in all circumstances, and never leave home without Him!
(Anna Bright is a minister and educator in Walterboro. She can be reached at abrightcolumn@lowcountry.com)
