Earning your keep

Should welfare recipients do something in exchange for benefits? A few states that have a work requirement for food stamps have seen reductions in welfare enrollment. As part of the so-called economic stimulus package in 2009, the federal government waived the requirement that able-bodied adults (ages 18-49) without dependents work to receive food stamps. As the waivers expire, states are reinstating the requirement.

These food-stamp recipients must work, volunteer for community service, or take part in job training—or a combination of the three—for at least 20 hours a week to remain in the program. If not, they’re limited to food stamps for three months every three years. Reducing welfare dependency is good for an individual’s sense of dignity (though some individuals might not care) and taxpayers who fund bloated programs.

Most Americans support work requirements for welfare recipients, according to a 2012 Rasmussen survey. As a Daily Signal commentary states: “Work requirements serve as a gatekeeper to ensure that benefits go toward those most in need, and they encourage people toward self-sufficiency. Work requirements provide a balanced approach to aiding those who need assistance while also being fair to taxpayers.”

The Apostle Paul reminded his brothers and sisters at the church in Thessalonica that when he and his companions visited them, they were not “disorderly among you; nor did we eat anyone’s bread free of charge, but worked with labor and toil night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, not because we do not have authority, but to make ourselves an example of how you should follow us.”

If anyone in the church didn’t work, Paul said, he shouldn’t eat: “that we might not be a burden to any of you.” The apostle’s words don’t preclude helping the truly needy, the people who can’t work. He told the brethren not to “grow weary in doing good.” We know the Christian work ethic goes beyond being self-sufficient. Our labor helps the needy and serves a higher purpose. The Christian is to glorify God in all he does, including in his work. And it’s personally gratifying, whether we like our jobs or not, to be able to support ourselves. Our places of employment can also be mission fields, though our present anti-Christian climate makes it riskier.

Some adults physically and/or mentally can’t work and provide for themselves, but the Christian should always strive to contribute to his own upkeep. We imitate God when we labor. Work itself is good. God performed the work of creation for six days and rested on the seventh. He gave His human creatures dominion over the earth and other creatures on it. Though the Fall changed the nature of work, we’re still required to work and to avoid laziness and idleness. Believers witness not only through verbal testimony but also in how we live, which includes how we labor.