Let us give generously and seek to help our brothers and sisters in need but let us also make sure that our generosity isn’t actually harming those we’re intending to help with it.

Read:

2 Thessalonians 3:6-12

Christ commands us to be generous and charitable, particularly toward our brothers and sisters in Christ (Rom. 12:13; Gal. 6:10). The Macedonian believers have left us a wonderful example of cheerfully giving, even out of their own poverty (2 Cor. 8:1-5).

This heart of charity is not a burden, but an overflow of the love that we have for Christ and for our fellow saints (John 13:34). It is good for Christians, when we hear of a fellow saint in need, to sense a desire to help them.

This is especially true when we hear of a fellow member in our local congregation who is in need. The charity and generosity of the saints is a wonderful testimony to the world of a love for Christ, and it should be encouraged in every local body.

Nevertheless, even though we should have an impulse of generosity toward our spiritual siblings, we cannot let our generosity become foolish.

Idleness in Thessalonica

Besides a faulty thinking about Christ’s return, one of the other big issues that was plaguing the Thessalonian church was the sin of idleness in some of its members. This issue is so pervasive that Paul addresses it in both of his letters to the Thessalonians (1 Thess. 5:14; 2 Thess. 3:6-12).

Although these Christians were able-bodied and had the ability to work and earn their own living, some in the congregation were refusing to work and relied merely on the charity of other members. Whatever the reason for their idleness, whether it was a result of their deficient thinking about Christ’s return or they were just basic laziness (or a combination of the two), the unproductive members of the church were taking advantage of the generosity and love of the other members.

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