The bible teaches that God designed mankind to work, that labor is not the result of the fall. Instead, it’s the hardships that come with that work that is the result of a broken and imperfect world.
So when former “Dirty Jobs” show host Mike Rowe said Wednesday many of the entitlement policies floated by Democratic presidential hopefuls are fundamentally at odds with our natural human inclinations, whether he knew it or not, the popular TV personality tapped into a godly worldview.
On Tuesday night, during the latest presidential debate, several of the progressive candidates argued Americans need a universal basic income, though they couldn’t agree on a set number. Such a solution, which has been proposed, in part, to counteract automation in blue collar industries, “ignore[s] the human condition,” Rowe argued Wednesday on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends.”
“We’re fundamentally lazy people,” he said. “We have to be taught, I think, to not be lazy. … I’m just saying that if you give me a choice — and I don’t see myself as lazy — but if you give me a choice of the easy way or the hard way, I can’t help it, I’m going to default to the easy way.”
Left to our own devices, the Bible tells us, we will choose selfishly and unwisely because the human heart is turned against God and his ways. Scripture says the heart is “deceitful above all things” and “evil thoughts” flow from it. We are hardwired to find the easiest way out of our responsibilities, and we have to fight it.
Newton’s first law of motion states that an object in motion tends to stay in motion; likewise, an object at rest tends to stay at rest. That law applies to human beings as well. For some, work comes easier. To others, it’s more difficult. But the Bible is clear: laziness is not an option for those who want to honor God with their lives.
Solomon wrote in Proverbs 6:6-11,
Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones. Learn from their ways and become wise! Though they have no prince or governor or ruler to make them work, they labor hard all summer, gathering food for the winter. But you, lazybones, how long will you sleep? When will you wake up? A little extra sleep, a little more slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest — then poverty will pounce on you like a bandit; scarcity will attack you like an armed robber.
God knew we would be tempted by laziness, so the Bible encourages us to see our work not as pointless labor but as an act of service and worship to the Lord.
In Colossians 3:23-24, the apostle Paul wrote, “Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ.”
The indirect result of giving people money for nothing is they will want more money for nothing. We are, as Rowe said, hardwired for laziness.
“Once you say ‘OK, free money,’ the next question has to be, ‘Why not more?’” he explained. “And that’s the beef with the $5,000 surge in the middle class right now. How do you argue against that? You simply say it’s not big enough, why not 10?”