from Pleasant Grove Baptist Church http://bit.ly/2waf30v
via IFTTT Work. Good honest hard work. It's a good thing! Our ambition should be to support our own needs, to not rely on others for our existence. But to work for a living. Honest pay for an honest day's work. Life is not about enjoyment, not about recreation. Life is not video games and golfing and socializing with friends. Life is work. The foundation must come first. Caring for our own needs is the foundation. Perhaps we have lost this drive in our society. Perhaps it's just easier to let someone else pay the bills and we enjoy life. Perhaps we even feel as though "they" owe us. But that is not scripture. That is not the gospel. We should never be "comfortable" existing because someone else worked and we didn't. Each of us is called to care for our own needs. This is not new, not at all. Think back to the garden where it all started. Part of the curse on man for sin was, yes, work. "you shall eat of the field by the sweat of your brow". Work. Why? Because it's good and just. Man desired to find his own way in the world, to know good and evil, make our own choices. So, God said ok, but in return you no longer get a free ride. With freedom and autonomy come responsibility and need for work. Originally God had light work intended for man, just to tend His garden. But there were no weeds, no predators, no bad weather, no seasons, no real "work" to it. Sin is what changed everything. Sin is what made the ground cursed and difficult to eat from. And sin is why we work, God ordained it. Satan constantly offers us an alternative to God's plan. In this truth of "hard work" Satan offers all sorts of alternatives. Live off others (welfare), live off the government (socialism), live off chance (gambling), cheat, steal, or even...live off your parents. None of these can be a life choice for the Christian. These are Satan saying "you don't really have to work so hard because of sin...no...be like God!" But it's all a lie. No one owes us anything. God says we must work to provide for ourselves. Period. Sure, there is always times, seasons of life when we have difficulty. The church is called to support those in need. But this is for a season, not a life choice. And even within those seasons, our "ambition" should be to become self supporting. A quiet self supporting life. That is the call Paul gives. Be an example. Give more then you get. Do not buy into the entitlement mentality. No one owes you anything. If you receive help, it is by the grace of one generous to you. We are not entitled to anything. We demanded to make our own path back in the garden. We deserve nothing. All is from Grace, undeserved grace. It's a heart attitude. Receiving welfare is not bad. Living comfortably off welfare and being ok with that, is bad. Feeling like someone owes us bread, is bad. Selfish, sinful. A quiet and self supporting life. Not extravagant, not wealth to outshine the neighbors. Just a quiet self supporting life shining the light of Christ to all we encounter. That is the Christian's ambition.
