Are You a Welfare Case?
Freedom or Slavery
I've always said, "The definition of a welfare case is; someone who won't work unless they're paid."
I know what you're thinking, "I go to work everyday, I'm not a welfare case." Are you sure?
The Hebrews had been in Egypt for 400 years, they went to work everyday, and they were on guaranteed social security. All they had to do was show up to work and all their basic necessities were provided, and they had the protection of Pharaohs army. 40 years in the wilderness was not enough for most of them to learn to live by faith.
Without the wilderness experience very few would have been able to handle freedom. Along with freedom comes uncertainty, insecurity, doubts, and fears. It's much easier to be a slave.
A welfare case has no work ethic. It's no matter that they go to work everyday or how much they make. If they're not getting paid they're not going to get too excited. Even if they make the big bucks they still have no work ethic. They can just hire servants to do all their menial tasks. Their welfare is at the expense of cheap ( slave ) labor. If they don't make the big bucks they can't pick up their messes or paint their house or clean it, etc. No one's going to pay them to do it.
If they can't get their wife or mother or kids to do it, the garbage would just pile up.
The funny thing is, if people have no faith, it's all about money. They would rather work for minimum wage than be free and independent. So, it's not really about money, it's about security.
"If making money is your first priority, you have your head on backward and you will end up with nothing but eternal death." Life is too short to spend being a slave. Rich or poor you should be true to your calling.
Jesus quoted the Old Testament and the New Testament writers said the same thing. "The just shall live by faith."
Most people live by fear.
Who are the just? Those that are justified. In other words, "The forgiven shall live by faith." How are we justified? It's in the first commandment. "I am the Lord your God that brought you out of the house of bondage, thou shall have no other gods before me." No one escaped Egypt without the blood sprinkled on the door post. It had nothing to do with how rich they were, or how hard they worked, or how perfect they were, or how well they kept the commandments, or how good looking they were, or who they were related to. "There's no other name given under heaven wherein we are saved." Under the Old Covenant it was the blood of animals, under the new it's the Lamb of God. It's really one and the same. The blood of animals pointed forward to the Messiah, now we look back at that completed work.
The sad fact of the matter is; without faith you cannot handle freedom. If I turn my dog loose, being in town here, he just runs off looking for females to love and males to fight. He has to be in bondage. Unless we go into the wilderness, then he can run free. He doesn't have any morals. He's just a dog. How many people are in prison because they have no self-control? How many need that slave job to force them out the door on time every morning?
So many times I've hired people and treated them like they were free, and expected them to be self-motivated, and self-disciplined, and to give an honest report. Most could not handle it. It was only a matter of time before they accumulated enough rope to hang themselves. What do you know, they wind up back at MacDonald's or WalMart, working for peanuts.
Freedom or Slavery
I've always said, "The definition of a welfare case is; someone who won't work unless they're paid."
I know what you're thinking, "I go to work everyday, I'm not a welfare case." Are you sure?
The Hebrews had been in Egypt for 400 years, they went to work everyday, and they were on guaranteed social security. All they had to do was show up to work and all their basic necessities were provided, and they had the protection of Pharaohs army. 40 years in the wilderness was not enough for most of them to learn to live by faith.
Without the wilderness experience very few would have been able to handle freedom. Along with freedom comes uncertainty, insecurity, doubts, and fears. It's much easier to be a slave.
A welfare case has no work ethic. It's no matter that they go to work everyday or how much they make. If they're not getting paid they're not going to get too excited. Even if they make the big bucks they still have no work ethic. They can just hire servants to do all their menial tasks. Their welfare is at the expense of cheap ( slave ) labor. If they don't make the big bucks they can't pick up their messes or paint their house or clean it, etc. No one's going to pay them to do it.
If they can't get their wife or mother or kids to do it, the garbage would just pile up.
The funny thing is, if people have no faith, it's all about money. They would rather work for minimum wage than be free and independent. So, it's not really about money, it's about security.
"If making money is your first priority, you have your head on backward and you will end up with nothing but eternal death." Life is too short to spend being a slave. Rich or poor you should be true to your calling.
Jesus quoted the Old Testament and the New Testament writers said the same thing. "The just shall live by faith."
Most people live by fear.
Who are the just? Those that are justified. In other words, "The forgiven shall live by faith." How are we justified? It's in the first commandment. "I am the Lord your God that brought you out of the house of bondage, thou shall have no other gods before me." No one escaped Egypt without the blood sprinkled on the door post. It had nothing to do with how rich they were, or how hard they worked, or how perfect they were, or how well they kept the commandments, or how good looking they were, or who they were related to. "There's no other name given under heaven wherein we are saved." Under the Old Covenant it was the blood of animals, under the new it's the Lamb of God. It's really one and the same. The blood of animals pointed forward to the Messiah, now we look back at that completed work.
The sad fact of the matter is; without faith you cannot handle freedom. If I turn my dog loose, being in town here, he just runs off looking for females to love and males to fight. He has to be in bondage. Unless we go into the wilderness, then he can run free. He doesn't have any morals. He's just a dog. How many people are in prison because they have no self-control? How many need that slave job to force them out the door on time every morning?
So many times I've hired people and treated them like they were free, and expected them to be self-motivated, and self-disciplined, and to give an honest report. Most could not handle it. It was only a matter of time before they accumulated enough rope to hang themselves. What do you know, they wind up back at MacDonald's or WalMart, working for peanuts.
1 comment:
Mark,
It occurred to me many years ago that since I became a pastor, I've never worked for a dollar in my life. I was in a church that was viewing me as their employee, and the tithe they placed in the offering plate as their right to direct my work in detail according to their liking and ideas of what it ought to include, and not include.
I told them, "If you've been putting offering in the plate thinking you are paying the preacher with it, you've never paid tithe. Tithe is what is given to God, not to hire the preacher. It belongs to God directly. You give it to Him, then your part is done. He's got His own.
I receive from the tithe, not because of what I do, or for who, but because of who I am: I am a minister of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, ordained to my function under the auspices of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. What comes to me is not "pay for work done". If it were, frankly, I'd go get another job. The pay per hour at this is simply not worth it, and I have skills that could earn me far more than I am reimbursed each two weeks.
"What I receive is not pay, but my lawful and rightful inheritance due to who I am, not what I do. I get that tithe because I am a minister. I minister because of who I am, also. That's what a minister does. But I am not paid for work done. That's simply not how tithe works. God told His ministers in ancient times, 'I am your inheritance'. That's still true now."
I like your distinctions in this article, as they allow that freedom from slavery and welfare for anybody. I've lived what you suggest throughout my working life.
Keep looking up.
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