The literal Greek meaning here is "nonworking." These words don't do anything for you, but they don't do anything against you either.
Hebrews 12:1 tells us what to do with those kinds of words. It says, "Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us."
Now we all know what sin is. But what are the weights to which this verse is referring? They are the things that don't really hurt you, but they don't help you either. They just weigh you down and keep you from running the race of life God has called you to run.
Idle words go hand in hand with those kinds of weights. Sometimes weights take the form of a hobby or recreational activity such as golf or fishing.
For me, flying airplanes was a weight at one point in my life - not that flying is a sin, because it isn't. It just occupied too much of my time and thought life. It competed with God for the priority in my heart and life. It became a weight because of the time and consideration I gave to it, and it kept me from running my spiritual race.
Consequently, much of the talking I did revolved around flying. Because I was a pilot, I loved to get together with other pilots and talk about flying - airplanes, approaches, maneuvers, aerobatics and all the rest. Our conversations all centered around flying.
The more I talked about flying, the more of a weight it became to me. I was speaking idle words. They weren't bad words; they were just unproductive words. They weren't promoting the purpose of God. They weren't releasing the angelic host. They didn't hurt me, but they didn't bring the life of God to me either.
As you go through your day, you will have many opportunities to speak idle words. Whether it is some current event in the news or something else that has attracted your attention, these are occasions that inspire idle, nonworking words. And Jesus said that one day you will give an account for your words in the Day of Judgment.
This doesn't literally mean that someone is taking down every word you say and that you are going to give account for every word that didn't work to promote God's purpose in your life.
No, at the judgment seat of Christ, you will give an account of the deeds done in this earthly body. And the things you do are ultimately a product of the words you speak. It is all tied together.
Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks and gives direction to our lives (Matt. 12:34). The Lord even says that the idle words, the nonworking words, will produce idle, nonproductive behavior. And when you stand before the judgment seat of Christ one day to receive the rewards for the things you have done on this earth, you will have to give account for all of the wasted time.
Does this mean you can never talk about your hobbies? Of course not! It is quite possible for you to talk about those things in your life that are fun and enjoyable without speaking idle words.
When you are out on the golf course or the fishing stream, you can praise God for the beautiful day and the hole in one and the twelve-inch rainbow trout you caught. Then your words become something that contributes to the purpose of God.
Personally, I had to lay down my flying for a while in order to get it into the proper place in my life. I gave it up for several years. When I had grown enough in the Lord to be able to accommodate that interest without it weighing me down, God brought it back into my life.
Today it is a great blessing to me, but it doesn't occupy all of my thought life. And when I am flying, the praises of God are in my heart and on my lips. My copilot and I talk about what a blessing of God it is to be flying at 41,000 feet and to look down on the clouds or see the sun rising in the distance.
We talk about how God has blessed us to be able to get from point A to point B in this manner. Our words, although relating to that particular activity, are no longer idle or nonworking words.
They are words that glorify God. They lift Him up. They give Him credit. In short, they are words of life.
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers
Mac Hammond is the senior pastor of Living Word, a large and growing church in Brooklyn Park (a suburb of Minneapolis), Minnesota. He is the host of the Winner’s Minute, which is seen locally in the Minneapolis area on KMSP Channel 9 at 6:44 a.m. and 11:11 a.m. He is also the host of the Winner's Way broadcast and author of several internationally distributed books. Mac is broadly acclaimed for his ability to apply the principles of the Bible to practical situations and the challenges of daily living.
