Willing To Work

• How would your life be different if you didn’t have enough to eat?

• Why do you think God wants us to work hard to provide for ourselves?

For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.”
2 Thessalonians 3:10

In most cases, people need to work in order to stay alive. Either people work to earn the money they need to buy food, or they work to grow and harvest their own food.

Paul is teaching the Thessalonians here that God does not want them eating if they are not willing to work for it. Notice that Paul chastised those who were “unwilling to work.” Sometimes people are unable to find jobs or are physically unable to work. The key here is that we should be willing to work hard when we are able.

God designed us to work. He wants us to work to provide for ourselves. In these verses, Paul reminded the Thessalonians of his own example. Though he was an apostle, and he could have expected the people to provide for him, he worked for his food in order to set an example for them. We too, as believers, are to set an example for those around us.

PRAYER
Dear God, thank you for the opportunity to glorify you in our work. Please help us to work hard and to provide for ourselves. Please help us to be an example to the world. Amen.