Idleness Causes Deterioration

In 190 A.D., Roman legions who were victorious over Spain, built an aqueduct in Segovia (see History). For some 1,800 years, it carried sparkling water to the hot and dusty Segovians. About the turn of the 20th century, patriotic Spaniards decided that the aqueduct should be preserved for posterity, relieving it of the work it had faithfully performed for sixty generations.

Modern pipelines were laid, and the flow that had gushed through the aqueduct for all of those many years, was suddenly stopped. Shortly after, it began to slowly deteriorate. The blazing sun dried the mortar and made it crumble; the stones sagged and fell. Before long, it lay in ruins. What 1,800 years of service had not destroyed, idleness rapidly disintegrated.

Spiritually speaking, idleness will cause rapid deterioration of the souls of men (cf. Hebrews 5:5-14 AMP), similar in nature to the aqueduct (or anything else that is not used for a long period of time).

The moral of the above story is simple:

The way to achieve nothing, is to simply do nothing (Matthew 25:24-30 ). It’s interesting to note that Jesus selected his twelve apostles from among those individuals who were busy at their various occupations (Matthew 4:18-19; Mark 1:14-18; Luke 5:1-11; Acts 18:3).

Dear reader, our Lord denounces idleness  (Matthew 20:1-7).

—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets