Living in the Spirit
November 10, 2022
Scripture Reading:
2 Thessalonians 3:6-13
Now we command you, beloved, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from believers who are living in idleness and not according to the tradition that they received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us; we were not idle when we were with you, and we did not eat anyone’s bread without paying for it; but with toil and labor we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you. This was not because we do not have that right, but in order to give you an example to imitate. For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: Anyone unwilling to work should not eat. For we hear that some of you are living in idleness, mere busybodies, not doing any work. Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right.
The Greek word for idleness as used above is atáktōs – properly, disorderly (“breaking rank”); insubordinate to God’s Word and hence fruitless (unproductive) – because lacking proper order (discipline)*
The 80/20 Rule (also known as the Pareto Principle) means that 20 percent of something is responsible for 80 percent of the results (i.e., 20 percent of the workforce provides 80 percent of production) **.
In building the Beloved Community, we all must do our part, and that does not always happen. I have spent the last several months trying to discern why people in Oklahoma do not vote. We have one of the worst voting records in the nation. The only thing I could discern is that many people do not feel like they matter. The issues that are important to them may be given lip service in campaign ads but are barely or rarely actualized. For example, I am looking forward to seeing what actions are implemented that successfully reduce worldwide inflation and who is responsible for making that happen.
Do we do the same thing within our faith fellowships? Through our actions do we send messages to people that their work in the church does not matter or is not good enough? I have found myself completing a task in the church because it needed to be done, but I certainly was not the most prepared or qualified person to do it. Part of being in the 20% worker bee group includes enabling and nurturing those in the 80% group to contribute their skills and talents in meaningful ways.
In the above scripture, Paul comes across as rather coarse in the above scripture, but he is trying to encourage all to use their talents and skills to the furtherance of building that Beloved Community.
Prayer: Lord, give us the skills to lead others to share their skills. Amen.
*https://biblehub.com/greek/814.htm
**https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareto_principle
All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.