109 1 Thessalonians 3:10

Those who do not work should not eat. A basic human principle to address motivation. Hunger motivates an individual to work. Work is a good thing. Work creates fruit in ones life. It earns money or necessities and even holds the possibility of bringing gain and enjoyment. Enjoying a good thing afforded by hard work and stewardship is a satisfying part of life that is not a sinful thing. It is interesting thinking about how this applies to our spiritual lives. How often do we come to church with this notion. I shall sit and listen to the preacher until he is done, then I will go home. He might say something to tickle my ear, he might not. The thoughts he implants might continue through the week, they might not. This principle of fruitful hard work does not seem applied to the way we do church as a whole. It seems as though we think fruit comes simply from listening to what hard work looks like. Fruit or growth or whatever you want to call it does not come from this. It comes from the hard work itself. If a sermon is for anything it is to challenge into hard work so that God's people gain the opportunity to grow and produce fruit through their own hard work. Our system, our religion, seems to be broken. What will it take to fix it?