THINK ABOUT IT RADIO PROGRAM #438

“Why Should We Work?”

by: Don Pinson

aired on:  4/17/08

            The Bible makes a powerful statement in 2 Thessalonians 3: 10.  Paul says,  “…if any would not work, neither should he eat.”   Paul is here teaching the people of God that work is what gives you the right to eat.  In other words, if you are not willing to work, you should not get to eat.  Perhaps you’re thinking,  “Don, you can’t be serious!  Do you mean simply if a person isn’t willing to work for his food, he should starve?”  Well, remember:  I didn’t write this.  God wrote it.  I’m just the messenger boy.  But to answer your question,  “Yes, if a person is not willing to work, he should ultimately starve to death.”

            I can just hear those of you who are gifted with mercy screaming about now.  You’re thinking:  “That can’t be the Christian attitude!”   Well, again, I didn’t write it, God did through the Apostle Paul to the Christians at Thessalonica.   As always, the issue is again,  ‘Will we believe the Bible; or will we believe what our feelings and experience

dictate?’ 

            Why does God make such a strong statement here?  That’s the question we should be asking.  And there are good reasons for His command to us to work.

            Number one, God Himself works.  Jesus said, in John 5:17,  “My Father works up until now and I work.”   It is the chief occupation of God the Father, and God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, to work.  And that’s reason enough for us to know we should work.  Gen. 1:26 teaches that we’re made as a vessel though which God’s likeness should flow.  It’s our very nature to work---until we learn not to.   You look at a small child and he’s constantly moving and you wonder where he’s gets all that energy to move to and fro.  God put it him; because that’s the definition of work:  to move to and fro.  God put it in us to work.  We have to be taught to be lazy.  It’s the most natural thing to work because we’re made in the image and likeness of God.

            Number two, God wants us to work because it teaches us to have faith.  In 1 John the Bible teaches that the work of God is to believe what Jesus says.  (1 Jn. 3: 23)  When we attempt to accomplish something God gives us to do, it makes us ask Him how to do this particular thing.  Then, as we do it the way He’s revealing to us (that’s faith, by the way), we find that the job gets done.  The whole experience becomes something that reveals the wisdom and ability of God.  This is true whether the task is to learn to plant corn in a garden, or conducting a government briefing in the midst of a crisis.

            In early America our forefathers understood the importance of work because they read the Bible in their homes and taught it in their churches and schools.  The consistent and intense commitment to work became known as ‘the Puritan Work Ethic’ because they learned from the Bible that work was the chief natural means, which God used to shape us into His image.  A marked evidence of this is to be found in the main textbook which educated the nation all through the 1800’s.  I’m referring to Noah Webster’s Blue-backed speller.  In it he placed reading passages which didn’t necessarily promote fun (as textbooks do today) but rather taught Biblical morals; including God’s work ethic.  For example he stated:

 

                                    "Wealth gotten by deceit, is soon wasted; but he that gathers by labor, shall increase in riches."

(The Original Blue Back Speller, 1824 edition, New York; reprint published by:  Vision Forum, San Antonio, Tx. 2002; p. 64)

 

"If you are poor, labor will [gain] you food and clothing---if you are rich, it will strengthen the body, invigorate the mind, and keep you from vice. Every man therefore should be busy in some employment."

                                    (Ibid., p. 89)

 

                Are you teaching your children to work?  Are you working yourself?

Think about it; because if you don’t, someone else will do your thinking for you---

and  for your children!  And you won’t like what that brings to you.  I’m Don Pinson this has been Think About It.