“For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward. Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness; For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward. But he that doeth not anything until he is commanded, and receiveth a commandment with doubtful heart, and keepeth it with slothfulness, the same is damned.” (D&C 58:26-29). They say that idle hands are the devil's playground. This is usually presented in the context of if you are doing nothing and are feeling bored or restless, then you are more likely to succumb to temptation and commit evil acts. But I feel that it is just as likely that the devil is perfectly content if we resist his temptations to do evil as long as we remain committed to being idle and doing nothing. I really like the phrase “anxiously engaged” because a lot of us remain idle precisely because we are so anxious and worried that if we try to do something good, we will just mess it up. The Lord is not saying for us to stop being anxious, buck up, and get to work. He tells us, look, if you're anxious, that's fine, just be anxiously engaged rather than anxiously idle. So many of us find that we have stalled out on our eternal journey because we feel that we are not smart enough or strong enough or good enough or perfect enough to do what we must do and so rather than do a poor, imperfect job, we do nothing at all. But God does not say that we must be perfect in every single one of our efforts right from the very start. As stated above, “inasmuch as men [and women] do good they shall in nowise lose their reward.” We are never going to be rich enough or wise enough or emotionally stable enough or blessed with enough free time and energy to do the things that we must do in a flawless and perfect way. But as long as we have got ourselves running towards Grace in the best way that we know how, the Lord will help redirect us back onto the right path when we have inadvertently chosen the wrong fork in the road. But if we remain stuck in idle, the Lord cannot do anything for us. If we have held ourselves back because we have been too anxious about causing more harm than good, then let us be anxiously engaged instead. We will find after not too much time that we do in fact have the power to be agents unto ourselves and to bring about much righteousness simply by doing things of our own free will.
