If You Don’t Work You Don’t Eat - Part 3

Idleness or Laziness?

In 2nd Thessalonians 3:9 Paul challenges some of the idle Thessalonians to imitate his work ethic. What characterized Paul’s work ethic? The text reads that Paul worked diligently with difficult and extremely painful labor night and day! This is the kind of work ethic that gets things done. This is the kind of work ethic that starts a business, a ministry, a garden, a landscape, a family, a church, and a country. 

During the Summer Guild we start the day at 5:30 am and go until 10-11 pm. The day is filled with devotions, prayer, eating, leadership games, speakers, productions, intense deadlines…and more! After a few short days it feels like we’ve been together for weeks. At the end of those five days filmmakers have produced a 5-10 minute video, scriptwriters have written at least five short audio dramas and several commercials, timber framers have designed and built the frame for a pavilion, horticulturists have planted a garden and engineered a waterfall, photographers have created a photo gallery presentation with music, visual artists have painted several oil paintings, sound designers have crafted sound design for several dramas, stage performers have choreographed a musical stage drama, and so much more!

During the closing ceremonies I see tears of joy, wide-open mouths of wonder, and smiles that will remain in memories for years to come. Why such a rigorous schedule? So that students of all ages can experience what can happen when we partner with God and work tirelessly for Him! It’s difficult to fully describe, but what we do know is that once you’ve experienced the guild, nothing is the same again! It is this kind of life-changing work ethic that Paul was trying to communicate to the idle Thessalonians, and his method of communicating was by example.

Time for Dinner!

Paul continues in verse 10: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. Can you imagine the government following that standard? America would be changed overnight! It would also radically influence our churches and children. Our children would quickly see the benefit of hard work! 

“What’s for dinner, Mom?” “Hmm…have you cleaned your room, taken out the garbage, and fed the dog yet?” “Well, not really.” “Well, then, dinner is not really ready yet. But it will be waiting for you after you’ve completed your chores.” 

Idleness or Laziness?

Paul continues in verse 11: For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. There is a difference between idleness and laziness. The lazy person won’t lift a finger if he can help it. Proverbs says that the lazy person won’t eat what he hunts. When he gets home, he would rather just let the game rot than take the time to skin, gut, and cook his dinner. He won’t fix a leaky, sagging roof because he would rather just keep placing more buckets on the floor. The lazy person, writes Solomon, is filled with excuses: “The forecast shows rain!” “The forecast shows snow!” “Can’t work today…”! How many times has someone canceled getting something done because of the forecast, only to experience that the bad weather never came?

The idle person, on the other hand, is not lazy. They are filled with activity. Unfortunately, they are filled with unproductive and useless activity. Moreover, they tend to be more active in the affairs of others rather than focused on their own needs. They would rather spend time driving to someone’s house and entertaining themselves in useless chatter rather than cleaning their gutters or repairing their roof. I really don’t know which is worse—laziness or idleness?

What do you think?

Quiet or Focused Attention?

Paul continues in verse 11: do their work quietly and to earn their own living. The word “quietly” can mean to keep silent, to keep one’s seat, to be undisturbed, or to have focused attention through resistance to idle behavior. Paul is telling the Thessalonians to stop being busybodies and to stay focused on their own work.

Can you imagine how much we could get done if we did the same?

 Abraham Lincoln, writing to his step-brother, who had requested a loan from Lincoln once wrote: “The great defect in your conduct is not that you are lazy, but that you are an idler. This habit of uselessly wasting time is the whole difficulty, and it is vastly important to you and to your children that you should break the habit. Go to work for the best money wages you can get, and for every dollar that you will get for your own labor I will give you another one. If you will do this you will soon be out of debt, and what is better you will have gained a habit that will keep you from getting in debt again.”

I believe king David had a similar work ethic to Paul. Killing a bear, a lion, a Philistine by the name of Goliath… (to name a few) certainly aren’t characteristics of an idle, lazy person. David later writes in his 128th Psalm: You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you. This is the kind of example that he set and that others followed…and the incredible reward is a blessing that offers all you could desire this side of eternity. May we learn to live by the example of both Paul and King David!

Recommended Reading for Hard Work Ethic: Fishmonger, Jill’s Red Bag, Phil Tyler’s Stand, Rosa of Linden Castle, Locked Cupboard