The reading for today, in a local church, was Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonians 3:1-18, as follows (New Living Translation): “Finally, dear brothers and sisters, we ask you to pray for us. Pray that the Lord’s message will spread rapidly and be honored wherever it goes, just as when it came to you. Pray, too, that we will be rescued from wicked and evil people, for not everyone is a believer. But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one. And we are confident in the Lord that you are doing and will continue to do the things we commanded you.

May the Lord lead your hearts into a full understanding and expression of the love of God and the patient endurance that comes from Christ.

And now, dear brothers and sisters, we give you this command in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ: Stay away from all believers who live idle lives and don’t follow the tradition they received from us. For you know that you ought to imitate us. We were not idle when we were with you. We never accepted food from anyone without paying for it. We worked hard day and night so we would not be a burden to any of you. We certainly had the right to ask you to feed us, but we wanted to give you an example to follow.

Even while we were with you, we gave you this command: “Those unwilling to work will not get to eat.” Yet we hear that some of you are living idle lives, refusing to work and meddling in other people’s business. We command such people and urge them in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and work to earn their own living. As for the rest of you, dear brothers and sisters, never get tired of doing good. Take note of those who refuse to obey what we say in this letter. Stay away from them so they will be ashamed. Don’t think of them as enemies, but warn them as you would a brother or sister.

Now may the Lord of peace himself give you his peace at all times and in every situation. The Lord be with you all. Here is my greeting in my own handwriting—Paul. I do this in all my letters to prove they are from me. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.”

The call to spread the Lord’s message is an on-going requirement, and we should commit as much time (or resources) as possible to this calling – not only should we give just our time but we should also aim to do the best we can – to aim for excellence, even in those times when we feel tired and exhausted.

In addition, where we have the skills and ability and not limited by illness or other disabilities, we should undertake work to support ourselves and not to be idle – especially, when there are things that need doing. Idleness, in a real sense undervalues the limited life-time we have – it’s the only life we will have to freely serve God – it’s too valuable to waste. God paid for us with His blood – that’s how much He values us – should we not love and live in accordance with His values?

Posted on July 12th, 2009 by Shayne
Filed under: Preaching and Teaching