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 Some
at Thessalonica evidently thought that the coming of the Lord
was imminent, so they had quit work and had become idle and
busybodies. Because of Paul’s concern about the immediate
effect and far-reaching results of such a philosophy among these
Christians, he wrote the second epistle utterly refuting the
idea that Christ’s coming was looming. Paul’s instruction
was for each, “in quietness, to work and to eat his own meat,”
and “If any would not work neither should he eat,” (II Thess.
3:10-12). A person who cannot work needs help but a
person who will not work has no right to eat.
The
Christian does a day’s work for a day’s pay. That might seem
old- fashioned to those who greedily get all they can with the
least amount of personal out-put but a Christian’s Master
teaches higher principles — “Servants, be subject to your
masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also
to the froward,” (1 Pet. 2:18). The employer — employee
relationship is not identical to that of the master — servant,
by virtue of degree, but the principle stands.
If
a man agrees to work for a set wage, he is honourably bound to
fulfill that responsibility and obey his employer. If he does
not want to work there for those wages, he can quit and work
elsewhere, but if he refuses to do the work agreed upon, he has
no right to expect that man to pay him. Of course, the employer
must realize that the LABORER is worthy of his hire, but no one
has the right to exact undue benefits because the company has
“made a mint.”
Thieves,
gamblers and sluggards all
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thrive on the principle of something for
nothing; eating without working; existing at the expense of
others. In many societies there are too many thieves to catch;
gambling is condoned because of the good revenue it produces
(they never tell of the millions lost by the poor); and the
sluggard lives off unemployment benefits. They have no right to
eat the fruit of another’s labor.
The
children’s story of the ant and the grasshopper is an
excellent one to mould the character of every generation. The
ant toiled in the heat of the summer while the grasshopper
fiddled, danced and enjoyed life. The winter came and the ant
snuggled warmly into his shelter to eat stored food, while the
freezing grasshopper starved to death. The grasshopper learned
his lesson the hard way. The wise man says, “Go to the ant,
thou sluggard; consider her ways and be wise; which having no
chief, overseer, or ruler, provideth her bread in the summer,
and gathereth her food in the harvest. How long wilt thou sleep,
0 sluggard?. . .Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little
folding of the hands to sleep:so shall thy poverty come as a
robber, and thy want as an armed man,” (Prov. 6: 6-11).
It
wouldn’t hurt for a lot of people to step outside and take a
look at the ant, step humbly inside to study their Bibles, and
then live in all good conscience before man and God. It might
start a famine, though, if some had to eat according to the
amount they worked. — Jim R. Everett
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