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WORK WITH YOUR OWN HANDS
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 24
1 Thessalonians 4:11-12

2 Thessalonians 3:7-10

 

“…and to work with your

own hands…”

 

WORK WITH YOUR OWN HANDS
 
The third part of a good testimony that Paul advised was “to work with your own hands” (1 Thess 4:11). This is a rather straightforward instruction that I am sure we can all understand well – to work hard to provide for yourself and your family, and not to be lazy.
 
Working is a task that predates the fall of man. After the fall, one of the curses that fell upon man was that work would then become harder, that the ground was then cursed, and would bring forth thorns and thistles (Gen 3:17-19). We must remember that Adam already had a job in the Garden of Eden, “to dress it and to keep it” (Gen 2:15). God did not create us to be idle. His purpose for us from the very beginning was always for us to work with our hands and to be productive in this life.
 
In the New Testament, there are instructions and testimonies about the importance of hard work. For example, 1 Timothy 5:8 teaches that we all have the responsibility of providing for our own families: “if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.” Paul exemplified this on numerous occasions when he worked hard to provide for himself and sometimes his co-labourers as well. Acts 20:34 says, “Yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me.” Laziness is to be avoided, for we are to be “not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord” (Rom 12:11).
 
There is therefore virtue in hard work. Whatever it is that God has called us to, whether as an employee, a business owner, a homemaker, or a student, we must all do our best in whatever God puts in our hands. This is our testimony to the world around us. Like Joseph in Potiphar’s household, it will be evident to all around us that the Lord is with us (Gen 39:2). They will see that we are doing these things not for pride or ambition’s sake, but simply because that is what our Lord has called us to, and that is the moral code that we live by.
 
THOUGHT: (Read Colossians 3:22.)
PRAYER: Father, remove from me the sin of slothfulness and help me to be zealous in whatever work Thou hast called me to.

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