Beware of idleness,” Thomas Watson once warned, for “Satan sows most of his seed in fallow ground.” Watson’s warning about idleness is relevant to any area of life, and most Christians quickly come to observe the intimate relationship between idleness and temptation. Charles Spurgeon, who was devoted to the writings of Watson, echoed his mentor when he said, “The most likely man to go to hell is the man who has nothing to do on earth. Idle people tempt the devil to tempt them.”
While Watson’s warning is broad enough to apply to all of life, it is also narrow enough to apply to the Christian’s relationship with God. Ground that is fallow has been left idle for a season and is producing no good crops. Lives that are fallow have been left to “go to seed,” and Satan will gladly sneak in to sow them with sin. Fallow lives reflect no great devotion to God and no great pursuit of God, but are instead devoted to ease or the pursuit of endless entertainment.
Watson warns that as we ease off in pursuing our relationship with God, we open ourselves to the temptations of the devil, for a fallow field bears weeds rather than wheat, and a fallow life bears sin rather than sanctification. Thus we always do well to ask: Am I being idle in my relationship with the Lord?
