Have you ever noticed that the first verb associated with God in the Bible is ‘create’? “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).
This means that the God of the Bible is an active God who is constantly at work. He neither slumbers nor sleeps. The Lord is not lazy. He is diligent, hardworking and thorough.
But not only is God the Father active. So is God the Son. He came to seek and rescue the lost. He too is an industrious Saviour who ever intercedes for us at the right hand of God. And then there is God the Holy Spirit who never ceases to point creation God-wards and Christ-wards by means of confirming the preaching of the Gospel with assurance and conviction.
The "triune" God of Scripture is a working God. Therefore any man who desires to reflect the nature of God must be a hard worker (or, as we say in the UK, a grafter).
Paul was incensed when he found out that some of the Thessalonian believers were not grafters but lazy busybodies (or, as we say in the UK, nosey parkers). He told the church: “Study to be quiet and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you” (1 Thessalonians 4:11). But when some of the church didn’t pay attention to the apostle’s exhortation, he wrote a second letter to the Thessalonians in even fiercer terms telling the saints to separate themselves from any idle person who professed the name of Christ (2 Thessalonians 3:6-15). “Have no company with such folk!” exclaimed Paul.
The apostolic principle is that Christians are called to work- to work hard and to hard work. Thus they give glory to God because that way they reflect something of the image and likeness of the Lord who gifted them with creation and redemption. There should be no such thing as a lazy believer.
By Will Graham
