Deeper Reflection
THE THESSALONIAN BELIEVERS WHO WERE IDLING around were busy, but in the wrong things. They were “not busy at work, but busybodies” (v.11): “Having no work of their own to keep themselves occupied, they had become meddlesome in the affairs of others.”¹³ And to Paul, the problem of walking in idleness was so severe, that he gives this rather extreme “command”: “If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat” (v.10). Every culture is likely to have such a similar proverb, and Paul adopts “a maxim applied no doubt hundreds of times by industrious workmen as they forbade a lazy apprentice to sit down to dinner”¹⁴, and makes it into an apostolic “command”.Behind this behaviour of not working but living idly is having no sense of personal responsibility and self-discipline. We may by extension apply the principles of personal responsibility and self-discipline from the realm of physical work to the realm of our spiritual life. It is necessary for us to grow from just being fed the Word of God by others to feeding ourselves as well. We take personal responsibility for our own spiritual growth by feeding ourselves, which requires self-discipline. There is this saying: “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” To feed ourselves the Word, we need to learn how to read the Scriptures properly and correctly – “accurately handling the word of truth” (2 Tim 2:15). Are you fishing abundantly from the Scriptures and feeding yourself richly for a lifetime?

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¹³ John R. W. Stott, Thessalonians, 192 ¹⁴ John R. W. Stott, Thessalonians, 192