Proverbs 12:11

“Those who till their land will have plenty of food,
but those who follow worthless pursuits have no sense.” NRSV

“For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: Anyone unwilling to work should not eat. For we hear that some of you are living in idleness, mere busybodies, not doing any work. Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right” (2 Thess. 3:10-13 NRSV).

I have a pastor friend who was in his church office one day preparing his sermon. He had spent the previous day working around the church property, raking up the seemingly unending leaves that were falling on the grass due to the crisp fall weather. He took a moment break from his sermon preparation to walk outside and enjoy the cool autumn air. A man, disheveled and dirty, walked up to him. The man asked for some money to buy food. The pastor—very wise in the ways of human disposition—told the man that he wouldn’t give him money, but that he would hire him to rake the leaves and put them in the trash cans. Once that was done, the pastor would pay him a goodly wage.

The man was taken back, shocked. He told the pastor that he wasn’t interested in working; he just wanted money. The pastor calmly replied that everyone needed to work. That the Bible plainly stated that those who didn’t work, shouldn’t eat . . . and went back to his sermon.

“Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime”—Author unknown

While the Lord Jesus told us that the poor would always be with us, Paul was astute in repeating the proverbial admonition about working and eating. The fact is, as people, we are innately lazy. Who wouldn’t prefer to lay around the pool, basking in the sun, while others do the work that we should be doing? And yet, Father God—Who has provided an eternal vacation for us in Heaven—commanded that we take dominance over the earth and subdue it. In other words, from the beginning, the human race was commanded to get busy with productive pursuits.

There is a delicious egocentricity in lazing about! It’s one of the reasons that I love vacations (especially vacations in our motorhome). Though, to be honest, I find myself taking work (homework, schoolwork, Bible study work, sewing, etc.) with me. I find it hard to be idle. There are all kinds of excuses for not working, but the fact is that all of us can do something! We can clean dishes or sweep a floor. We can fold clothes or make a bed. We can water the garden or weed. We can cook a meal or answer a phone or type a letter or read to a child. In fact, if we turned our televisions off, we might find an entire host of things that we actually could do that are productive and fulfilling. If not in our home, then in the home of a neighbor or friend who could use the help.

Our neighbor across the street is disabled; he walks with a cane and limps. His property was cluttered with broken down cars (and a van) and just in disrepair. But this summer, when he learned that we were having our son’s wedding in our yard, he began to come out every day and weed. Only a little at a time, but over the course of a month, the yard looked good! Then he asked for assistance in moving (pushing) the broken down cars to the back, behind the house. Now his property looks great. He always had this capability, but wasn’t motivated.

Often our “inability” is actually a lack of motivation. The task looming before us seems so hard, so impossible, so overwhelming that we fail to simply take that first step. To do something! If we were truly honest, we would see our inability as what it is . . . laziness, and get off our duffs and get to work.

One of my favorite women, Sister Aimee Semple McPherson, once said: “I’d rather wear out than rust out.” Oh, that we all would have that kind of attitude toward the tasks that face us today!

© 2008 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. International copyright reserved. This study may be copied for nonprofit and/or church purposes only without permission when copied in its entirety (including this notice).