Title: Should Able People Who Refuse to Work Receive Food Assistance?
Proverbs 20:13 says, “Do not love sleep or you will grow poor; stay awake and you will have food to spare.” This verse speaks to the importance of diligence and the consequences of idleness. It raises a relevant question for us today: Should able-bodied individuals who choose not to work be entitled to food assistance?
While compassion is at the heart of Christian teaching, and providing for those in need is a biblical principle, how do we balance that with the responsibility to work and contribute when able? Is it fair to support those who can work but choose not to? How should we as a society and as Christians respond to this issue in a way that honors both compassion and accountability?
The problem is their kids go without. Remove kids from the home or offer assistance?
Another issue: if you work in a state where minimum wage is still common, those hard working folks can’t get by. Our church bus stopped at an old shack up motel that has whole families living in one room-and at least one parent works. If both parents work, the kids are left alone in an unsafe area and the motel manager is quick to call child enforcement. If you can get help, you don’t have to live in a car or leave the kids alone.
I am ashamed to tell you we stopped the bus ministry and Sunday dinner program after a change in pastorship to a man who believed those’d folks couldn’t contribute financially to the church, and there were complaints that those kids didn’t fit The ministry was stopped. I prayerfully decided to change churches at that point.
Refuse to work vs. can’t work. I hear it at chemo every month. I have experienced it myself. No help if you are not working even if you are physically unable to do so. No help if you are the working poor.
Each state runs government funding differently. And some seem to want to punish the poor.
Better enforcement to catch cheaters, job assignments and childcare during job training would work better.
So no, those who refuse to work should not get financial help, but distinguishing between won’t work and can’t work must be fair. And those who can’t work in jobs that pay a livable wage fir to lack of skills or mental health need to be dealt with fairly.
This is such an important (and delicate) issue. Scripture calls us to care for the poor (Proverbs 14:31) and also to uphold the value of work (2 Thessalonians 3:10). But we must be careful not to confuse hardship with laziness. Life is rarely black and white.
Those who are able to work, and refuse the opportunity, should not expect society’s support. But distinguishing between “refusing” and truly unable (due to illness, trauma, or lack of opportunity) is where wisdom and compassion must guide us. God’s justice includes both mercy and responsibility. Christians can support systems that provide for the truly needy while encouraging those who can work to do so with dignity.
2Th 3:10 For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.
Subsidy has destroyed the reservation, barrio, ghetto, and Appalachia. The damage done to families and individuals by “do gooders” who establish systems to corrupt people so they can feel they “helped” people is incalculable.
Christians used to be able to really help people by meeting each individual with an individual who would require them to work or otherwise participate in their recovery such as with the early Salvation Army. The use of government systems to replace this has allowed damage such as alcoholics to receive “disability” payments and thus have no incentive to improve.
God cares about the poor. He commands us to help those in genuine need. But He also commands us to take personal responsibility. “If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat” ~2 Thessalonians 3:10. Notice Paul did not write “if anyone is not able to work.” Paul is very clear that if you will not work, you will not eat.
God’s created order for human life includes work. Work was not a curse; it was a part of His plan for purpose. God put Adam in the garden to “work it and keep it” ~Genesis 2:15 long before sin entered the world. Work provides dignity and discipline, and it enables humans to help each other ~Ephesians 4:28.
When those who are physically able to work become parasites and expect others to support them, it is an act against God’s order. The Bible calls that sin, not compassion. Enabling the indolent actually does more harm than good. It makes people dependent instead of responsible.
However, when someone cannot work because of age, infirmity, or other factors beyond their control, then mercy and help are both proper and biblical. God instructs His people to look after widows, orphans, and others in need ~James 1:27.
