2 Thessalonians 3:6-15

People who refuse to work are sinning (missing the mark); they are coming up short of the goal God has set for them. God will make his will clear to them, and if they continue living an idle and lazy life, they are choosing to deliberately and willfully disobey God; they are committing a sin of disobedience. People who willfully disobey God and live a life of laziness, release evil’s power into the world. Laziness is the source of great harm in our world.

When Paul wrote Thessalonians he believed the idle were still Christian and called them believers. They were missing the mark, but he did not believe it was deliberate. Scholars have two reasons they believe some of the Christians were idle. The first was the widespread poverty and unemployment in Thessalonica. Many of the Christian believers simply could not find gainful employment. It did not occur to them that God would want them to work, even if it was not at a paid job. The second reason many of the Christians were not working is because they were waiting for the second coming of Christ. They believed he could come at any time, and they were content to sit and wait. They were ready to go home and be with Jesus. Paul told them neither reason was good enough; God wants His people to work.

In the world, people work to eat. Paul said the same should be true among Christians. However, that is not the primary reason Christians work. Christians work because work is a part of God’s plan for our lives. A Christian’s most important work is not in the world; it is in the kingdom of God. A wealthy, retired, or disabled Christian, does not have to work to eat, yet some of our most important work can now be done. Free from the material need to work, we can invest ourselves into spiritual work. We do not have time to be idle; we have Kingdom work to do.