Get A Job!
Mar 12th, 2007 by Admin
My mom and I have this ongoing debate about my responsibility to provide for my family.
She says: “the Bible says that if you don’t have a job you don’t eat!”
But I respond: “I thought it says if you don’t work you don’t eat?”
In America we think of work as getting a job.
But God’s command is to seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, AND ALL THESE THINGS SHALL BE ADDED UNTO YOU!
That sounds like good work to me!
We believe that in order to procure provision, we must go out and find a job. That the Bible’s command to work means finding a job. But are they one in the same? Is working and getting a job synonomous?
I don’t believe so. I think our first and foremost duty is to seek God’s Kingdom first. That we are not to worry about what we are going to eat, drink or wear. That God is our provider, just as He provides for the birds of the air.
My struggle is that all of my life I’ve been taught that as a husband and a father, I am my family’s provider. There’s even a good case for this in the scripture. But I believe it is my job to have faith in God, and seek Him first in all things that will provide for my family.
That does not however excuse any of us from working. We cannot do nothing and expect that the Lord will provide for us.
It seems there is a fine line between faith and presumption!
Plan A: Seek God and His kingdom first.
Plan B: Seek my own way.
My goal is always Plan A, but sometimes I don’t see how provision can ever come from Plan A, so I consent to Plan B. That way at least I’ll be able to provide for my family. But in the end is that God’s plan - Plan A? It may be, but did I take the time to find out?
To me, it comes back to a matter of faith, listening and obedience.
The second passage is a little bit out of context. The passage is referring to taking care of widows. Paul says that the widows are primarily the responsibility of their children and grandchildren. If the children and grandchildren would not provide for their widowed mother or grandmother, they were worse than an unbeliever.
Paul is talking here about freeloaders in the first reference. Folks who do nothing all day, and go an mooch off others. They do nothing to add value and substance to the body. They only take value and substance. I think the term is called “parasite.” Parasites are destructive. Paul’s command is to cut these folks off from the food, so that they will be forced to work.
Hmm, doesn’t the Bible also say that the widows and the poor should be taken care of?
Yes, you’ve been taught this all your life, but because you’re an American, living in a capatalist world, not because you’re a Chrsitian. Did Jesus have “a job”?
Yes, we love our families and should provide for them, but this preoccupation with the “job” to the point that one’s employment defines who they are as individuals is straight capitalism, which I am still not sold on. Communism has a lot of Christian ideals in it, but the practice is never the ideal and it ends up being taking care of those in power rather than taking care of everyone in the community. Plus, I admit it would make people a bit lazy. The only perfect government/economic system in a Monarchy. The only problem with that one is that it’s only as good as the King that runs it.
From reading your writing, it is evident who your King is…and isn’t.
Blessings!
Mike-
Sorry it’s taken me so long to get back to you on some of this stuff. I’ve been doing a lot of meditating a lot recently on the Gospel of the Kingdom, and the Lord’s prayer - where Jesus tells us to pray that the His Kingdom would come here on earth as it is in heaven. My question is why would Jesus ask us to pray a prayer that God never intended to answer unless he intended to answer that prayer. That His Kingdom would come - here on earth - just as it is in heaven. This brings up questions of citizenship. I’m beginning to realize that we have the opportunity to live in this supreme Kingdom if we can only change the way that we think - ie REPENT! We’ve brainwashed ourselves with things that Jesus didn’t teach, and preach them from the pulpits as if it were the word of God. This being a prime example.
Thanks for the additions!
Blessings!
Write on, brother (wow, isn’t that clever?)
Yes, we are to be different creatures, but we are also to minister to the world around us. Among other things, Jesus was very much a social revolutionary. He worked to make a difference in the lives of those He touched, both in spiritual and in practical, tangible terms. He did not require them to repeat a creed of allegiance before He acted. He did not bash them for their sin and blame them for their own situations. I agree that once in a relationship with Christ, it is natural to be transformed, but it is not always an instantaneous process, and even now we who know Him are still sinful at times.
Jesus came for the sick, and those in need (as we all are). In many communities, however, if the Church were a hospital, they would all just talk about how great it is to be doctors, admiring each other’s degrees and nice white coats, and would only step outside to turn away the sick and dying with a “Go get well, you sicko! Don’t set foot in here until you are good and healthy…and preferably with a doctorate!”
You know I say this out of love, not pointing the finger at any specific church or person; I am attacking this attitude that Christ Himself rebuked time after time. We must be different, this is true, but I just wanted to go further (especially for those who may not know how loving a person you are, Heretic) and say that this does not mean proud, as if we are somehow different through our own actions. We are only different because of Him, and I am no more worthy than anyone else, no matter how holy I think myself to be.