This morning in my Bible reading I came across an old familiar passage that is fresh and new.

    “Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise, which, having no captain, overseer or ruler, provides her supplies in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest. How long will you slumber, O sluggard? When will you rise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep—so shall your poverty come on you like a prowler, and your need like an armed man.” (Proverbs 6:6-11)

The national unemployment rate for August 2010 was 9.5% (not seasonally adjusted) which is an astounding number. A number that never gets any media attention is “job leavers,” which the Bureau of Labor Statistics define as those “unemployed workers who have voluntarily quit their current jobs and have immediately sought other employment.”

The overall percentage of these workers in the civilian workforce make up only .6% of the statistical unemployed. However, every month this category make up roughly 6% of unemployed persons. Since August of 20009, between 874,000 to 969,000 workers monthly leave their jobs in search of new employment.

Now if these folks are living off their savings then I have no problem with them pursuing happiness via the American Dream. However, if these people are collecting unemployment (which if they’re not then how does the BLS know about them?), then I have a real problem with these “citizens.”

If you voluntarily leave your current job in search of another job, you are entitled to nothing. Let me try that again…you are entitled to NOTHING! Not one cent of working people’s taxes should go to you.

I am so proud of my son-in-law who worked very hard while finishing college by working first at a fast-food restaurant and then delivered pizzas so he could support his family. He did not consider it below him to work at these places. Do you know why? Because he played the man; he manned up! It was at that moment that my son-in-law proved his love for my daughter and I knew that God had sent the right man to Tiffany.

My youngest daughter Becky has a business degree and has yet to be able to find an entry-level management job so of course like most college graduates she’s collecting unemployment until the “right job” opens up. NO!!! She works hard as a server at a pizza parlor, many days working double shifts to be able to pay her bills and take care of her personal needs. And of course my oldest daughter Tiffany works very hard as an elementary school teacher. I am very proud of my hardworking children. They are, as Psalm 123b says, “like olive plants all around your table.”

But Bro Dave I have a bad back that does not allow me to do hard labor and I’ve been looking for work but my physical limitations keep me unemployed. My dear friend I was not speaking of you. You cannot work; I am speaking to those who will not work. The Bible is very clear on this!

    “But we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to the tradition which he received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to follow us, for we were not disorderly among you; nor did we eat anyone’s bread free of charge, but worked with labor and toil night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, not because we do not have authority, but to make ourselves an example of how you should follow us. For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. For we hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but are busybodies. Now those who are such we command and exhort through our Lord Jesus Christ that they work in quietness and eat their own bread. But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary in doing good. And if anyone does not obey our word in this epistle, note that person and do not keep company with him, that he may be ashamed. Yet do not count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.” (2 Thessalonians 3:6-15)

Bro Dave are you saving all people on unemployment should be admonished and ashamed? No, pay closer attention please. I am talking about the sluggard who is purposely gaming the system, with a sense of entitlement, to keep from having to work because he or she can “get by” on the government dime.

We have a political party that is clearly bent on bringing socialism into our government and they have been very successful so far. And one of their most effective weapons is class warfare or envy. As I wrote in my latest article “The End of Any Nation”:

    “Using class envy and begrudging your neighbor for his or her possessions, no matter how they are legally obtained, is covetous and God commands us not to. If we disobey God’s commandments we sin, and sin is clearly considered evil in the Bible. Any questions?”

So what should I do if I know of someone who will not work? Do as the Apostle Paul instructs in 2 Thessalonians 3: do not enable them by meeting their needs; do not keep company with them; and as a brother or sister admonish them in the love of the Lord.

If they cannot work through no fault of their own, help them through your church family to keep them afloat until they can find employment.

I do not downplay the tough economic times our nation is facing. Time and space do not allow me to cover some of the reasons our nation is in its current economic state, but individually we can all do our part by ensuring we each earn our daily bread if we are able and help those who are not.

In Christ
Dave
Ps. 37:4

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    Copyright © 2010 David Jeffers
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