Work
Good Morning,
I have a love for mankind; that love was born in a good family that, rarely, if ever, sat around slandering and criticizing others. That care for others was nurtured by thousands of hours of Bible reading and Scripture meditation. That spiritual love for humanity is intimately tied to God’s amazing love for me, a most unworthy sinner.
In my background, practical feelings were cultivated. I watched my natural father (not a Christian) and mother get up every morning and leave by 6:30 AM to go work. As most Americans, I watched my parents head off to work and return about twelve hours later.
My brother and I were instructed in labor. We were not given a “free ride” or free money. In our younger years, we worked around home, and as time passed, we found countless other ways to make money. We raised rabbits: butchered, bagged, and sold them door-to-door. No health department was involved. We sold vegetable seeds, greeting cards, and cattails that we picked along drain ditches. As we grew into adults, in mercy, we found regular full-time jobs. Laziness was not tolerated in our home. Work was self-satisfying; we enjoyed a completed job.
Once I trusted Christ and began reading the Bible, I found that the Scripture says much about work. If a man does not work, he should not eat. Paul said, if a man would not work that the Christian should have no company with that man. He did not mean hate that man, he simply meant that he was not the kind of person with whom one should be close friends and spend much time. Paul said those who do not work should be ashamed.
1 Thessalonians 3:10 “For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.”
vs. 11 “For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies.”
vs. 14 “And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed.”
vs. 15 “Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.”
Although I have always had a love for people, I have a measure of contempt for those who choose to indulge on the generosity of others, live without achieving, eat the bread that another has earned, criticize, accuse, and slander often, yet build and achieve nothing of their own efforts.
Doing nothing while criticizing those who do something is repulsive behavior! For a segment of society to expect the rest of society to provide for their needs is not only unscriptural but it is also a terrible cancer on their self-esteem and family life.
When God put Adam and Eve in the garden, he put Adam there to “keep” the garden. There was work from the first day humanity was on the earth.
Work is good for humanity – individually and corporately. Train your children to work. Insist that your children work daily. Labor as parents to create jobs for your children. For we who are older, do not live for the day when you do not need to work – that philosophy is one of striving for a life of no consequence. A life without work, dreams, and a daily goal of seeking to accomplish some task is empty and useless.
May we always love people, but may we also admire and enjoy the simple things of this life of “work.”
Pastor