10 For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “If a man will not work, he shall not eat.”
This is how welfare used to be run. People came with this attitude. They wanted to work for what they received. They didn’t want a free handout. The shift happened about a hundred years ago. Before this time churches were the primary helping organizations (which is still true today). But back then there were no government programs that subsidized income. Family and neighbors helped when someone was ill or died. The community pulled together and made sure a widow had small things they could do that give them dignity in the process. At harvest time the gleanings went to the poor. We also didn’t “need” big screen TVs and smart phones. Back then they knew the difference between needs and wants. If they had food and shelter, they were satisfied. Now the poor “need” so many more things. We have “need inflation” going on. This is a result of capitalism, the drive to produce and buy every new everything. But we “need” food and shelter. My wife works with the working poor. So often they run short on money for food. They have money for the huge car payment, but not money for food. They have money for the cell phone and cable TV, but they don’t have money for the dentist. It can be discouraging to carry groceries outside for a family and then place them in the back of a brand new Escalade. And so often there are generations of non-workers who have learned to use the system. They often are able-bodied, but just not willing to work. This verse would help set priorities if it could be heard.
The Arnold Journey 