And let our own [people really] learn to apply themselves to good deeds (to honest labor and honorable employment), so that they may be able to meet necessary demands whenever the occasion may require and not be living idle and uncultivated and unfruitful lives. – Titus 3:14, Amplified Bible (AMP)

The Bible is filled with verses that teach against idleness. Most of them point to the negative consequences that people will personally suffer as a result of their laziness. Some refer to the pain others will suffer as a result of relying on a lazy individual. In Titus 3:14, we find both teachings in one verse.

In Titus 3:14, God (through Paul) admonishes His people to engage in honest labor and honorable employment to meet “necessary demands.” Meeting “necessary demands” includes taking care of oneself and one’s family and taking care of those in want. Regarding the former, 2 Thessalonians 3:10 (AMP) tells us, “…If anyone will not work, neither let him eat.” Regarding the latter, Ephesians 4:28 (AMP) teaches, “Let the thief steal no more, but rather let him be industrious, making an honest living with his own hands, so that he may be able to give to those in need.”

What form does that work need to take? That’s between you and God. The Greek word for “employment” – or, as the KJV version renders it, “works” – is ergon (er’-gon), which means:

• business, employment, that which any one is occupied
• that which one undertakes to do, enterprise, undertaking
• any product whatever, any thing accomplished by hand, art, industry, or mind

“Any product” leaves the door wide open for each of us to discover, prepare for, and pursue the work God has called us to do. Pursuing our vocational calling in a diligent manner will have the effect of providing for our needs and for the needs of others, making it one of the most practical embodiments of the Second Great Commandment, “love thy neighbor as thyself.” When you love your neighbor as yourself – thereby obeying His command to do so – you also show God how much you love Him, for as Christ Himself said in John 14:21 (AMP), “The person who has My commands and keeps them is the one who [really] loves Me.”

Bet you never thought that doing a hard day’s work fulfilled the two Greatest Commandments, did ya?