Compassion without accountability is just indulgence. The Bible teaches that we have a responsibility to feed those who are truly hungry and can’t provide for themselves. But there are some people who would prefer to live on handouts indefinitely and avoid doing anything for themselves. Solomon wrote, ‘Lazy people sleep a lot, and idle people will go hungry’ (Proverbs 19:15 NCV). Centuries later the apostle Paul was even more explicit: ‘For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.”’ Listen to what Solomon said about lazy people: ‘The lazy catch no food to cook, but a hard worker will have great wealth’ (Proverbs 12:27 NCV). ‘Though the lazy person puts his hand in the dish, he won’t lift the food to his mouth’ (Proverbs 19:24 NCV). The kind of person that Solomon had in mind wanted their bread buttered, but didn’t want the bother of buttering it themselves. If they caught something while hunting, they wouldn’t even clean the meat and cook it; they’d rather it went to waste than go to the effort of preparing it and making it into a meal. What’s the Bible talking about here? It’s talking about the person who never starts a job; and if you give them one, they either won’t finish it or they’ll only do half of it, then give up. Then Solomon wraps it all up in one final impact-filled statement. ‘Lazy people’s desire for sleep will kill them, because they refuse to work’ (Proverbs 21:25 NCV). There are no two ways about it; laziness is a trait that God has no time for.
