Labor On

DEVOTION
2 THESSALONIANS
LABOR ON
2 Thess 3:7-10
7 For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, 8 nor did we eat anyone's food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. 9 We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to make ourselves a model for you to follow. 10 For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: "If a man will not work, he shall not eat."
NIV
So what do I make of this dissertation? I certainly am not going to model myself after another man. Yet that is not all bad either. I know I hear my pastor express his lifestyle as a model. I think a lot of believers think their pastor should be a model of perfect Christianity. I think a lot of believers might think everyone else should be perfect too. I don’t know about this concept. I suppose I should be a model for others and they should be a model for me as well. It may well be right to be an example for others. I was sure my example was supposed to be Jesus. Is using another man as an example simply not lowering the bar? Maybe this has nothing to do with spiritual matters but rather simply being concerned about the physical condition of not being idle and looking to others for food, clothing, and housing. Maybe this is just about not being a burden on society, looking for a handout from the government or the church. Does this fly in the face of ministries which provide such assistance? Should the church being telling those homeless, jobless, drug dependent folks to work for their keep? I wonder if the church trots them out on display ever so often to show what a great thing we are doing, or to use them to raise support money. I think if we are to be examples working for our food, then we should be helping others find jobs so they can follow our example, not just feeding them. That sure sounds cruel. I know I have been on the receiving end a few times, but never admonished to go work. Now maybe that is because I was out looking for work, seeking a way to support my family. I never gave up. Now I am not in a place, I don’t think, to be that example for others who are not working, but eating from the hands of others. So I am still not sure about this. Yet I am sure I am to be working, trying to be out there working for my food which I know is a blessing from God and am thankful and thank him daily for each and every meal I have. Just being able to buy food is a blessing from God. He has provided me with every type of work I have done. He has given me a strong back to be able to labor, to physically toil with my hands. He has given me a fair mind to be able to work in certain ways. He has provided miracles one after another in providing so many things for me to have. How could I not know it is all him, yet I must work, if I am to eat. I cannot ever retire from work. Society may have the concept of retirement, but God does not. I labor on.