2 Thessalonians 3:10-12 “If a man will not work, he shall not eat. … We command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the bread you eat.”
It is good to work, to have full days, to not be idle. It gives great satisfaction to earn what you eat and to be a contributor to society, your family, and your church. Out of earnings come tithings which teach generosity that grows into the joy of giving. God is my provider. I am 100% dependent on him. Yet he wants me to participate actively in his purposes and be thrust into the midst of other lives through work. The absence of work, self-centered and excessive leisure, and idleness are disastrous to both the individual and the community. There are large segments of society trapped by apathy, victimhood, and rejection of responsibility. They don’t work, refuse to earn, defy authority, give in to all manner of immediate gratifications – and destroy themselves in the process.
Father, thank you for my job. Thank you that you have taught me so much through working day after day over a span of decades. Please lift the blinders from the eyes of those growing up in the toxic culture of the underclass with its chronic pathologies of family chaos, violence, abandonment, drugs, and blame. Please shine your light into these murky places of rural and urban decay where evil strongholds imprison men, women, and children in lies, lethargy, and despair.