Does everyone need to work?
Question:
You say that everyone must work, but what about those that cannot work because of a disability or ones that cannot find work? I do not have any working background, and when I looked for a job nobody would hire me because of it. And what about the ones who have been laid off? My region has an extremely high unemployment rate. I want a job that I can enjoy. I can't do something that I don't like. To me, that would be wasting my life.
Answer:
"For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat" (II Thessalonians 3:10).
It is God through the apostle Paul who gave this command. I'm just the messenger.
While there are a few who cannot work because of severe disabilities, most people can work. Some may not be able to earn a living at what they can do, but they still can do something. For some, when the economy is bad, finding a job is their job. One brother here turned in a thousand applications and looked for a year before getting another job after being laid off. The fact that you are doing nothing is a waste of life.
There is no condition in the Scriptures that states you only need to work if you are enjoying your work. Finding enjoyment in your work is a gift from God. "I know that nothing is better for them than to rejoice, and to do good in their lives, and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor-it is the gift of God" (Ecclesiastes 3:12-13). But all work is not necessarily enjoyable. "Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God" (I Peter 2:18-20).
The truth is that you want jobs that you aren't qualified to do. And those you are qualified to do, your pride won't let you do. Yes, sometimes you have to work at a fast-food restaurant or be a store clerk to build work experience and a reputation for being a good employee. All of us have done it. I worked for two years as an orderly in a nursing home in my high school years. It is a necessary part of proving your ability to work and be reliable.
Response:
I understand and have decided that once I have learned to drive then I will look for work. All the while, I am still going to keep writing. Driving is very scary for me, though, but I suppose it's a part of living. It's wrong for my husband and me to depend on my parents for everything, and I have been feeling guilty over it. Thanks for your honesty and for pointing out those things to me. I have trouble understanding a lot of what the Bible says even though I've been going to church before I started school.
