Work.htm

WORK.

"These are our orders to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ: hold aloof from every Christian brother who falls into idle habits... We mention this because we hear that some of your number are idling their time away, minding everybody's business but their own. To all such we give these orders, and we appeal to them in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to work quietly for their living." (From 2 Thess 3:6 & 11,12 NEB).

SECULAR WORK.
"…Those who have come to believe in God should see that they engage in honourable occupations, which are not only honourable in themselves, but also useful to their fellow-men... our own people must be taught to engage in honest employment to produce the necessities of life; they must not be unproductive." (From Titus 3:8,14 NEB).

"…Let it be your ambition to keep calm and look after your own business, and to work with your hands, as we ordered you, so that you may command the respect of those outside your number, and at the same time may never be in want." (From 1 Thess 4:11,12 NEB).

"Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, single-mindedly, as serving Christ. Do not offer merely the outward show of service, to curry favour with men, but, as slaves of Christ, do wholeheartedly the Will of God. Give the cheerful service of those who serve the Lord, not men. For you know that whatever good each man may do, slave or free, will be repaid him by the Lord." (Eph 6:5-8 NEB).

"And whatever it is that you do in word or in work, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, thanking God the Father through him." (Col 3:17).

"We beg you, brothers, to acknowledge those who are working so hard among you, and in the Lord's fellowship are your leaders and counsellors. Hold them in the highest possible esteem and affection for the work they do." (1 Thess 5:12 NEB).

SPIRITUAL WORK.
"But we desire each one of you to show the same industriousness so as to have the full assurance of the hope down to the end, in order that you may not become sluggish, but be imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises." (Heb 6:11,12).

'We complain of the slow, dull life we are forced to lead, of our humble sphere of action, of our low position in the scale of society, of our having no room to make ourselves known, of our wasted energies, of our years of patience. So do we say that we have no Father who is directing our life; so do we say that God has forgotten us; so do we boldly judge what life is best for us; and so by our complaining do we lose the use and profit of the quiet years. O men of little faith! Because you are not sent out yet into your labour, do you think that God has ceased to remember you? Because you were forced to be outwardly inactive, do you think you, also, may not be, in your years of quiet, 'about your Father's business'?... It is a period given to us in which to mature ourselves for the work which God will give us to do.' (S. A. Brooke).

"Consequently, my beloved brothers, become steadfast, unmovable, always having plenty to do in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labour is not in vain in connection with the Lord." (1 Cor 15:58).