We have children living at home at age 18 after high school, who either don't work or use the money they do earn for pleasure. Even worse than that we have 35 year olds coming home just because they are too lazy to work.
18 year old high school grads should be kicked to the curb to learn about life. If they had been properly trained they would have been working at a job early, being taught to save their money for important things, not frivolous silly play things.
2 Thessalonians 3:10 "For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat."
My uncle many years ago back in the 1920's left Sweden because of the famine. His mother and some brothers and sisters were living together in their home, but there was little food and some days no food at all.
My uncle was 14 when he left, to come to the united states. He worked his way over on a ship, as a cabin boy.
When he arrived in the United States he couldn't speak English so he had to endure the problem of learning it while attempting to get jobs to make his way.
He did not abandon his mother and siblings, but sent money back every month as he was able, to support them. At age 14 he cared deeply about the welfare of his family. When he left Sweden it was not only for himself, but to be able to make income to support those he left behind.
He saved all the money that he didn't send back home, and was able to start a fishing business on Long Island New York. He eventually married and he and my aunt ran the business there for 40 years.
During all the time he was working the fishing business he was sending money back to his mother. He had not returned home to see her until age 64.
My uncle left home to help support his mother and siblings at age 14 and didn't return to see them until he was an old man of 64. 50 years he worked to help them, he left home a young boy and returned an old man.
Many will say that a 14 year old does not have the maturity to work outside the home, and they would be right. We have managed to make whinny sniveling babies out of our young men. They don't know how to work hard, nor do they appreciate the smallest blessing.
There is a sense of fulfillment and purpose in working hard for someone outside ourselves. All this pleasure seeking and electronic gizzmoes are making mindless selfards out of our men. They do not automatically learn how to be selfless and work hard unless we teach them at a very young age, that life is not about pleasure, but for the honorable man, it is about hard work and self sacrifice.
Please don't anyone come to comment that there are no jobs, it is hard, or they would be on the streets. If we teach our young men to start at the bottom, doing whatever they can get, then they will be satisfied to work their way up over time through diligence. They will take whatever they can get and be happy to get it.
I have heard many times that "we should work at what we like." Poppycock. Most people have to work at any job, we do not all get to have a job we like. We can choose to like the job we get by sheer will to do it as unto the Lord. Whatever we do, will be pleasing to us if we do the best job we can.
Unless we begin teaching the young men to act like men, setting aside their pleasure for what is more noble, we will see a third world country faster than we expect.
A productive nation does not just happen, it is built by the sweat of young men's brows, saving their money and spending it wisely, this creates a great nation.
When men act like men, seeking God for the building of their character, then God will bless. God will not bless laziness, self seeking and arrogance.
Think about it. Has all this pleasure seeking fostered a work ethic? I think not.
