We know a young Christian adult, with no ambition to find regular employment, still living at home with parents. Instead there is a complete contentment to live off others. When we carefully encouraged this Christian to join a sibling working at Walmart, this individual told us plainly: “I don’t need money.” We explained that everyone needs money for food, transportation, housing, clothing, and simply to follow the instructions in Scripture. However, this one remained undeterred and became angry that we would suggest the need to work.

The Scriptures are abundantly clear and consistent in the instruction that every able-bodied believer should be industrious in the area of gainful employment. When some believers at Thessalonica stopped working, Paul told them they should “study to be quiet…and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you” (I Thessalonians 4:11). When they did not heed this instruction, he repeated it, saying: “For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat” (II Thessalonians 3:10). Notice, in both instances, Paul’s instruction for everyone to work was not just a suggestion. It was “commanded.” Why is this so important? Work is God’s design to responsibly provide for one’s own needs. These verses clearly state that those who shirk the responsibility to work should not be allowed to eat. Providing them with food only enables their wrong behavior. Another purpose of God is revealed in Ephesians 4:28 “…let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.” Whether giving to further the work of the Lord or to help believers in genuine need, God instructs us to work. Even young widows are required to work lest “…they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not” (I Timothy 5:13). Work helps to prevent other wrong patterns of behavior by filling one’s time with wholesome activity. The Scriptures are also full of instructions clearly explaining how wrong it is to be “slothful,” or lazy (consider Proverbs 18:9; 24:30; Ecclesiastes 10:18, and many more).

If you are responsibly working, you are to be praised. Keep it up. If you are not, it’s time to demonstrate real spirituality and maturity by getting to work. If you are enabling someone who won’t work, withdraw that enablement today. God “commanded” it through Paul’s letters.

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When my wife worked as a dental hygienist, everyone in the office knew she was a Christian. She had witnessed to most of them, and she worked hard to maintain a testimony for Christ. One day at break time, the conversation became sordid. Out of respect, one gal turned to my wife and said: “Cover your ears Terri, you’re not going to want to hear this.” My wife’s presence did not prevent all sinful conversations, but her presence was unmistakably a deterrent holding back what would have otherwise been far worse.

If you’ve been in a situation with unsaved people, and they say something like: “We need to watch our language because…is here,” then you are doing your job as a Christian. That means your testimony is, at least in part, being a deterrent to the Satanic influence in your arena of influence. When Paul wrote to the believers in II Thessalonians 2, these saints were concerned that they had missed the Rapture of the Body of Christ. Their present persecutions caused them to wonder if they were in the midst of the seven years of Tribulation. But Paul assured them “the day of Christ” (vs. 2), meaning the Rapture, had not yet occurred. Their persecution for their faith was a normal experience for spiritually-dark perilous times. All who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer some level of opposition. Satan’s momentum to pave the way for the coming of the Anti-Christ is growing. The job of every Christian is to live a godly life that serves as a restraining element to Satan’s onslaught of evil. This was Paul’s message when he told the saints: “…ye know what withholdeth…only He who now letteth will let, until He be taken out of the way” (2:6-7). The words “withholdeth” and “letteth” refer to the restraint of evil by the Holy Spirit as He works within believers. Like the heaps of waters in the Red Sea restrained by the power of God, when Israel passed through on dry land, believers in the Dispensation of Grace are to be God’s agents restraining the evil tide of Satan’s march toward ushering in the Anti-Christ. How? We are to win the lost, live godly testimonies, vote for those who most uphold biblical standards, and seek to influence others with biblical truth.

Christians have a job to do until Christ takes us home. As you start your day, make it your prayerful goal to be a godly restraining influence on others.

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It is well publicized that the United States military academies have a stringent “honor code.” This is a set written standard that governs integrity in academics and prohibits such activities as lying, cheating, or stealing. Men and women who aspire to serve their country are held to a higher standard than the general public. This “honor code” is deemed necessary to develop character, and it also makes one worthy of public trust. Conduct falling short of these standards is considered conduct unbecoming to an officer and unworthy of the branch of service it represents.

The Scriptures likewise imply a high code of conduct for every believer. We represent the Lord Jesus Christ and His message of grace. To be worthy of public trust, it is essential that we live worthy of our Savior. In Ephesians 4:1, Paul begs the saints to “…walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.” In Colossians 1:10, Paul prays for the saints: “that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God.” In I Thessalonians 2:12 he implores the believers: “that ye would walk worthy of God…” These passages make it is clear that a worthy walk of godly conduct is extremely important. When the Apostle Paul wrote the saints in II Thessalonians 1:4, he praised them for their “patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure.” He further states their godly conduct was “…a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye might be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer” (vs. 5). The fact that these believers were, through the grace of God, able to maintain such godliness with unwavering faith and endurance, no matter how severe the persecution, was a demonstration to the lost. It proved their message of salvation through Christ alone was real. Their testimony pointed to eternal life for those who trust in Christ, and to the looming divine punishment for those rejecting faith in the Lord Jesus. Paul assured them that this kind of daily walk made them worthy of the Savior they served. This certainly does not mean any kind of merit leading to eternal life. It simply means they represented the Savior so well that they were worthy to be considered genuine soldiers of Christ.

How about you, beloved? Are you seeking to be a worthy soldier of Christ by living a godly life worthy of His name?

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A Christian man lamented to me how his life had turned out. Through alcohol and poor decisions, he had lost his job, his family, and many of his friends. He blamed his father for inattentiveness, he blamed other Christians for offenses, and then he blamed God. Among other things, he said: “I just wish I knew what God’s will was for my life. All of my friends knew exactly what God wanted them to do with their lives, but God never showed me.” He was failing to take personal responsibility for his decisions and failing to understand God’s will.

Webster’s dictionary defines “mysticism” as “any doctrine that asserts the knowledge of spiritual truths through intuition or meditation, vague thinking or belief, of occult character or meaning.” Without realizing it, many believers embrace the concept of mysticism as they seek God’s will in their lives. God has a better idea. Galatians 4:1-7 explains that God deals with us, not as children, but as adult sons. Galatians 5:1 tells us we have great liberty to make decisions in life without God micromanaging every detail. That means He gives us the freedom to choose who we will marry (I Corinthians 7:39), what work we pursue (I Timothy 3:1), even where we go (I Corinthians 16:12). This means God gives us wide latitude to decide our direction in life, yet He will work within us every day regardless of which path we choose. But God has also plainly told us we can understand His will today (Colossians 1:9; Ephesians 5:17). It is God’s “…will [to] have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (I Timothy 2:4), and to “…deliver us from this present evil world…” (Galatians 1:4). “This is the will of God…that ye should abstain from fornication: that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor…” (I Thessalonians 4:3-4). Then, “In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (I Thessalonians 5:18). Beyond this, all the obvious instructions in Paul’s letters are God’s will: being transformed (Romans 12:2), walking in newness of life (Romans 6:4), renewing our minds through Scripture (Ephesians 4:23; 3:16), and much more relating to growth in godliness.

Have you been searching to understand God’s will for your life? You don’t need a mystic experience, or a seminar. Understand your liberty in Christ and the principles in Paul’s epistles that clearly define God’s will.

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