For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.”  — 2 Thessalonians 3:10

I am one week and a couple of days into this school year.  I realize that nobody wins a 190-day race in seven days, but I think I have enjoyed this start to school as much as I have any I’ve experienced in the past 25 years.  Some of those years, I have crawled out of the gate and never caught up.  Some years, I sprinted like I was going to conquer the world in just a few days, only to fizzle out before Thanksgiving.  This year, I felt like I walked out of the gate.  I love to read the four words that the Bible uses to describe Enoch in Genesis 5:24. It simply says, “Enoch walked with God.”  A person crawling will get nowhere fast.  A person sprinting will get tired fast.  But a person walking can last for a long time.

In 2 Thessalonians 3 Paul is talking about the attitude that they took towards work when they visited places.  He believed that no person who confessed belief in Christ should be idle.  To be idle is to avoid work.  To be idle is to be without purpose while spending enormous amounts of time doing nothing.  This was happening among believers when Paul wrote this in the first century.  It is happening now.  

I think I’m going to try this for the 2022-2023 school year.  I want to give my absolute best work from the time I get up, until the time I get home . . . usually around 9-10 hours per day.  If I don’t feel like I have given my best by noon, I’m not going to eat lunch.  If I don’t feel like I have given my best after that, I won’t eat supper.  I think I have become slack in being a good example through the work that I do.  At the very least, reading this convicted me.  I’ve seen over the years a lot of teachers get close to retirement and coast.  I’ve also seen them finish well.  By God’s grace, I want to finish strong.  I want to be one of the ones that finish well.     

Honestly, I don’t think this is necessarily a command from God even though it is in the Bible.  This is simply Paul stating the attitude that they took when they were out and about on missions.  They were the example setters.  I really do believe if every Christ follower who reads this today would take the same approach . . . it might just change the spiritual climate of our society.Lord, I know that I am an absolute nobody.  In the grand scheme of things, I am a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes.  But, Lord, for the little bit of time that I have, with all my heart, I want to honor You.  I want to point people towards You.  Help me keep a great attitude.  Help me go the extra mile.  Help me sustain a solid walking pace.  I just don’t and can’t do this on my own.  Help me be as aware as I’ve ever been in my life of You walking with me every day.  May my eyes be Your eyes, my hands be Your hands, and my feet be Your feet.  Help me do this so I may be asked, “Why do you take all this so seriously?”  May my answer always be the same, “I do it for Him.”