Tom writes:

Paul has waxed lyrical about the majestic riches of the coming kingdom. He has cautioned the church about the signs of the times and chaos that the man of lawlessness wants to cause. He has urged the Thessalonians to encourage one another with the ecstatic glory that is ahead. And then, without any obvious change of gear, he says “settle down and earn the bread you eat”. Throughout my life most Christians have been very focused on this “settling down” and “earning the bread”. Because of the circles I’ve been in I’ve also met a few who have spent their days gazing glassy-eyed at the distant clouds pondering the beautiful perfection of the heavenly realms. But I’ve not met many - like Paul - who seem to comfortably and easily do both, at least in the Western world. I think that it is because the western view of life is so disenchanted. We see this world as fairly flat, only populated by humans and animals with God, perhaps popping in every now and then.

But the Jews and Christians inhabited a densely populated world with spiritual realities being bumped into in every moment in every place. For them, it was totally obvious that the God who made bread and could be encountered through bread would want his people to settle down and earn some bread. For them it was totally obvious that catching a fish or lending money or writing a message would have a profound spiritual aspect to it that would go on for all eternity. Their enhanced awareness of this reality caused them to engage in doing good right now in this world. Paul saw huge value in his canvas business as a beautiful reflection of the beauty of God’s Kingdom Come. He wasn’t trying to escape for it or apologise for it - he was encouraging others to emulate him in his labour. I wonder if you have a biblical view of your work, of your salary, of your good acts in society? Most of us spend most of our time working and much of what we do there will be reflected in the coming age. We should pray for a spiritual imagination to grasp that. Let’s pray that our earning of cash and our late night work efforts become not a distraction from our faith but beautiful embodiments of our hope in the coming age.

Question for reflection

In your spiritual imagination, what is the spiritual significance of the work that you do?

2 Thessalonians 3 - Friday 2nd August