All Should Work And Avoid Being Idle

"Regarding mutual love, you do not need anyone to write to you, because GOD, HIMSELF, taught you how to love one another.  You already practice it with all the brothers and sisters of Macedonia, but I invite you to do more.  Consider how important it is, to live quietly, without bothering others, to mind your own business, and work with your hands, as we have charged you.  In obeying these rules, you will win the respect of outsiders and be dependent on no one." - 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12 

(Paul then gives a warning he will repeat at the end of this letter [5:14]: All should work and avoid being idle.  The community is disturbed by certain believers more inclined to attract attention with an enthusiastic show of faith rather than work; they discredit the Church in the eyes of pagans.  Paul, the good Jew and Pharisee he was, could earn his own living by manual labor.  He would not have understood how a believer could be without some qualification and unable to find an outlet, be it well or poorly considered and paid.)

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