“For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.” We hear that some among you are idle and disruptive. They are not busy; they are busybodies.”
As Paul addresses the issue of work, he mentions the problem in every verse, but it can be summarized best in vs. 11. "We hear that some among you are idle. They are not busy; “they are busybodies." The problem is some people have given up their jobs and with the expectation of the coming of Jesus. They are talking about their faith in Jesus, but not working to earn a living. Apparently, the other believers are providing food or at least they are being asked to give them food.
Paul's first letter to the Thessalonian church, he warned the idle busybodies to get to work and admonished the church leaders to warn those that are unruly. It seems these troublemakers did not repent, because Paul devoted the rest of his second letter to this problem. There is no reason why they cannot work and earn a living, but they are not doing so.
Laziness is not God's plan for believers. Christians need to be among the people of this world that seek to earn their own living. Disorderly people bring confusion and division to the assembly. Busybodies are not busy workers, but fooling around and not accomplishing anything. They meddle in matters that do not belong to them.
Church problems are like physical problems; if left unsolved after a while they grow and become worse and they infect more people. The local church is a body and what germs are to the physical body, sin is to the church, the spiritual body.
M.R. DeHaan, in one of his devotionals from the “Daily Bread” tells of being a beekeeper. He was attacked, he said, by loafers. His beehive was full of honey, literally crowding out the bees. There were thousands of them clustered on the outside of the hive. They were idle because there was no room for additional honey. Having nothing to do, they just loafed at the entrance, looking for trouble. As DeHaan was getting an extra section to give the bees a chance to do more work, the swarm which had been gentle before attacked him. Why? It was because they were idle. As long as they were busy, they never bothered, but having nothing to do they were looking for trouble. They had become loafers.
Some Christians fall into that category. They don't know what to do with their leisure hours and instead of keeping busy studying God's word, praying, inviting, helping, visiting, reading, writing, sending out cards and witnessing, they get into trouble and start attacking people who are trying to help them.
Application: What part of your leisure time is productive and what do you think can be changed in activities to enhance body, mind, spirit, and socialization?
Prayer: Lord, direct my path in everything – my mind, body, spirit and socialization. Help me to make the best use of the time you have given me here “for such a time as this”.
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