Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. – 1 Timothy 5:8

Today's Scripture Reading (June 6, 2024):  1 Timothy 5

It is the feature of almost every busy corner in a city, the ever-present people asking for money from the cars passing by. I have to admit that they present me with a genuine dilemma. I want to help, but I know that many of these people are not in need. It is a dilemma that many of us face when we are confronted with people who ask us for money. Several years ago, I was driving home from a late meeting at midnight when I stopped at a red light and had someone jump into the car with me to ask me for money. (The car I drive now automatically locks when the vehicle is in gear, but this was before that became a regular feature in our vehicles.)  My new friend needed gas money. His car had run out of gas, and he had no cash on him. I gave him ten dollars more to get him out of my car than to help him out. A few years later, I ran into him again, and he was still looking for gas money to get him home. Maybe he needed to find a different car.

Paul is concerned with people in the emerging church who seemed to want to take advantage of the generosity of those who were following Christ. The reality was that several churches, with the most obvious being the church in Jerusalem, had given so much to people in need that they had found themselves in trouble financially when hard times had come upon them. In difficult times, they didn't have the money they needed to survive.

So, Paul feels it is time to teach that there is a way that we are to provide for ourselves and our families. It was a day when there was no societal safety net. As a result, many were hungry. So, Paul instructs his readers that getting a job is the preferred way of supporting themselves. Everyone, especially men, needed to work to pay for themselves and their immediate family. Our responsibility in society is to earn money so that we can support ourselves and those who depend on us. It was a message that Archie and Edith sang about every week in the opening theme song for "All in the Family" during the 1970s.

            Didn't need no welfare state

            Everybody pulled his weight.

            Gee, our old LaSalle ran great.

            Those were the days (Lee Adams).

However, in the case of the early church, if for whatever reason you could not support yourself, then your support was the duty of your family. Such was the case with widows. When the husband died, women in a male-dominated society were often unemployable. If that was your situation, your extended family should wrap their arms around you and help you survive. Maybe you went to live with them. But the reality was, whether you liked it or not, you became their responsibility.

If the first two rungs failed, the church was activated to help support those who could not do for themselves and had no family to help them. Paul stresses that those who can support themselves and their family but who decide not to have denied their faith and are worse than an unbeliever. This is just something we do as members of our society, and no reason excuses us from our responsibility to support ourselves and our families.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 1 Timothy 6