Tuesday,
June 20, 2023
And now, dear
brothers and sisters, we give you this command in the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ: Stay away from all
believers who live idle lives and don’t follow the tradition they
received from us. For you know that you ought to
imitate us. We were not idle when we
were with you. We never accepted food from anyone without
paying for it. We worked hard day and
night so we would not be a burden to any of you. We
certainly had the right to ask you to feed us, but we wanted to give you an
example to follow. Even while we were with you, we gave
you this command: “Those unwilling to
work will not get to eat.” Yet
we hear that some of you are living idle lives, refusing to work and meddling
in other people’s business. We command such people and urge them in the name of
the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and work to earn their own living. As
for the rest of you, dear brothers and sisters, never
get tired of doing good. 2
Thessalonians 3:6-13
Most of us don’t
have trouble accepting references to God as a loving deity, always providing,
meeting our needs because He cares for us.
It’s nice to have on your side the all-powerful,
nothing-too-hard-for-Him, Heavenly bequeather of miracles and Cadillacs. It’s nice – that is, until He tells you what
your part in that relationship will be. Apostle
Paul’s letter to the folks at Thessalonica was like that. As a minister/prophet/evangelist, Paul was
accustomed to hard work, hard times, and, of course, the hard truth[1]. He reminded the
church God gave us plenty of blessings, including a body and mind to work in
harvesting those blessings…for ourselves, as well as to be a blessing for
others.
Jesus suffered and
died on the cross for our sins. That
cross made salvation available, but God requires us to accept it. That is the conditional truth about being
redeemed. We don’t “work” for it, but it
leads us to His work. That was what Paul
was teaching when he worked alongside those folk at Thessalonica.
Paul wanted them to
undersand that “freedom in Christ” was not about being “lazy in Christ”. Just as a child is born, brought into this
world without a stitch of clothing, history, or strength to fend for him/herself,
a newborn believer is reborn by Christ’s love and forgiveness. The child must then stay close to parents, be
nurtured, schooled, and brought into the reality of becoming an adult, mature,
and ready to become productive. That is
the process, both natural, and spiritural.
Paul saw in some of
the Thessalonian believers that discipleship process had been stunted; their
development into disciples had been arrested in infancy, and they were still
living as if that cross had no power to change their lives. They were living-into their preferences
of being lazy and meddlesome. Paul’s
advice to them was simple and appropriate…if you won’t work, don’t expect
to eat!
It is (wisely) said
that there are two kinds of people, givers and takers. Notice what Paul said at the end of our
text: …dear brothers and sisters,
never get tired of doing good. He
might have added (for those of us who have trouble connecting the dots) …and
you can’t do much good if you won’t work to support yourself, and gain a little
more to share with others.
For You Today
You don’t have to be
a billionaire to be a philanthropist.
The Greek root
of philanthropy may be literally translated as "loving
people." The English word can refer
to general goodwill to one's fellow people, as well as to the active effort to
promote the welfare of people, but in modern use it is most often used to refer
specifically to the practice of giving money and time to help make life
better for others.[2]
Christian giving is not about how much you give;
it’s about what keep for yourself.
There are about 2,500 devotional
posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions
library. To dig deeper explore
some of these: Good Stuff to Give Up in Lent and Seven Deadly Sins Part-5-Sloth and Deadlines
Title Image:
via Pixabay.com Images without citation are in
public domain.
Unless noted, Scripture quoted
from The New Living Translation©
[1]
See Paul’s parting words to the disciples at Troas, following a very long
sermon (Acts
20:27)
[2] The
Merriam-Webster Dictionary (Emphasis mine)
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