THE SPIRIT OF GIVING
2 Thessalonians 3
“We were not idle when we were with you, 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.”
It is easy to take Paul’s words here at face value and confine his concern and his instruction to mean that Christians should always be gainfully employed. But this is because the opposite—there were people who were happy to be idle while supporting their ego by their disruptive demand for attention—was how the problem manifested in the Thessalonian church.
“Ignore them,” Paul said, “so that they will feel the shame of their position. In truth, they are idle and disruptive and unchristian.”
At the heart of it is a broader principle, and an important one, that Paul summed up in these words: “And as for you, brothers and sisters, never tire of doing what is good.”
God saves us so that we may be fruitful. We do not need to confine our understanding of God’s command to be fruitful and multiply to merely mean to bear children. Our worth is found in the fact that we have been made in the image of God.
Similarly, the thrust of Jesus’ words in John 15 tells us that we are to bear much fruit; in fact, God acts to cause us to be even more fruitful.
An unfruitful Christian, a Christian who will not work but busies themselves with idle chatter, is a misnomer.
At the heart of the Gospel is the message that God gives, even when we do not deserve his generosity. As one who has received such generosity, a Christian would be glad to have the opportunity to be generous to others. We can never do too much because God has done so much more for us.
However, the truth remains that while the spirit may be willing, the flesh is weak. We will not always be able to respond perfectly in every situation nor will we always have the resources to respond generously in every situation. And this is why we need the Lord of Peace and the peace of the Lord; this is why we need the presence and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ to be with us all.
“Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you. … The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.”