Idleness, 2 Thessalonians 3

Request for Prayer
1 Finally, brothers, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you. 2 And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men, for not everyone has faith. 3 But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one. 4 We have confidence in the Lord that you are doing and will continue to do the things we command. 5 May the Lord direct your hearts into God's love and Christ's perseverance.
Warning Against Idleness
6 In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers, to keep away from every brother who is idle and does not live according to the teaching you received from us. 7 For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, 8 nor did we eat anyone's food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. 9 We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to make ourselves a model for you to follow. 10 For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: "If a man will not work, he shall not eat."
11 We hear that some among you are idle. They are not busy; they are busybodies. 12 Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the bread they eat. 13 And as for you, brothers, never tire of doing what is right.
14 If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of him. Do not associate with him, in order that he may feel ashamed. 15 Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.
Special Greetings
16 Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.
17 I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand, which is the distinguishing mark in all my letters. This is how I write.
18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

Probably the verse that is the most applicable to me is verse 6 where it says to "stay away from every brother who is idle." I picture a car that is in neutral possible waiting for the light to change, or just sitting there. On a hill a car in neutral would really end up rolling backwards. Eventually you'd have to hit the brake OR put it into gear and go forward, hopefully withoug killing it. To me this is the brother or sister in Christ who is not doing things that brings them closer to God. They are not necessarily being defiant, but in their lives they are no different in their actions or daily lives than non-Christians. In my bible study class last week the commentary did say how the lifestyles of Christians and non-Christians vary little. That was humbling to read for me.

The scripture says to stay away from the idle person I guess because they may lead you to being idle also. The passage does say just to stay away from them and possibly warn them. They are not the enemy, just a brother who is idle.

In my class last week we discussed how we often fail as Christians to "warn" each other as this passages says to do. Also, there is another passage that talks about confronting a brother who is outside God's will. I think this is difficult because as a society we have become "tolerant" and don't want to offend people. It's hard to bring up something because nobody is squeaky clean and the person could easily see faults, or areas of idleness in the other person.

Maybe by avoiding the controverial areas in each other's lives we as Christians have allowed our lives to mirrow those who do not know Christ.

Rebuking someone else is not easy because we all could be rebuked for something. IT could turn out to be like a "your mama" game where you keep on insulting each other.

The bible is clear when it says not to associate with the idle person.