As an apostle, Paul had every right to receive financial support from the people whom he ministered to (see Matthew 10:10; 1 Corinthians 9:14; 1 Timothy 5:17-18).

Yet, the apostle chose to forgo that financial support from the Thessalonian church. He made tents for a living (see Acts 18:3) because he didn't want money to become a hindrance to winning souls. In his first letter, he reminded them of this: ″Surely you remember, brothers and sisters, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you″ (1 Thessalonians 2:9).

Now, in his second letter, Paul uses himself as an example as he corrects those who refused to work for a living (2 Thessalonians 3:6-10). In doing so, he also teaches the necessity of working for a living.

There is value and dignity in human work. In Psalm 104, the psalmist speaks of how God designed creation with functional efficiency; this was how God fitted all things together. Work has a natural place in everyday life: ″Then people go out to their work, to their labour until evening″ (v. 23).

Going out to work is part and parcel of creation's natural cycle; our work is part of how God designed the rhythm of life. God gave work to Adam as His gift: ″The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it″ (Genesis 2:15). The fall did not introduce work, although it made work harder and caused it to be painful because the ground became cursed with thorns and thistles (see 3:17-19).

Even in Exodus 20:8-9, which contains the provision for Sabbath, we read of God's command to work. Many of us focus only on the day set apart for God, neglecting the fact that this one day of rest was contingent on six days of work-″Six days you shall labour and do all your work″ (v. 9). Perhaps we need a radical shift from ″Thank God it's Friday″ to ″TGIM″-"Thank God it's Monday″!

The Bible does not teach us to put our lives on hold to wait for the Lord's return. On the contrary, Jesus told His disciples to continue working and going about their business until His coming again. In the parable of the bags of gold (Matthew 25:14-30), our Lord reminds us of the mission entrusted to us: as we await His return, we are to be found faithful in doing the tasks He has given us. And when the Lord returns, we would be able to hear Him say, ″Well done, good and faithful servant″ (v. 21)!