The Laidback Life

He's frequently a hard worker.
Recently a post on Don't Waste Your Life blog dealt with the affluence of America and quoted Wilberforce: May 17, 2008 - By: Lukas Naugle

In 1797, William Wilberforce wrote A Practical View of Christianity in which he addressed the defective nature of the Christianity many middle and upper class people in England professed. Here is an excerpt that sounds as if it could have been written about today. It makes plain that affluence has a consistent effect on Christians in every age.

Yet thus life rolls away with too many of us in a course of shapeless idleness. Its recreations constitute its chief business…amusements are multiplied, and combined, and varied, to fill up the void of a listless and languid life; and by the judicious use of these different resources, there is often a kind of sober settled plan of domestic dissipation, in which with all imaginable decency year after year wears away in unprofitable vacancy. Even old age often finds us pacing in the same round of amusements which our early youth had tracked out. (99)

We can all err in regard to idleness. And, along those lines, here is a good quote attributed to John Piper, from the Book of Shadow blog:

Jesus Christ is refreshing, but flight from him into Christless leisure makes the soul parched. At first it may feel like freedom and fun to skimp on prayer and neglect the Word, but then we pay: shallowness, powerlessness, vulnerability to sin, preoccupation with trifles, superficial relationships, and a frightening loss of interest in worship and the things of the Spirit

I am rebuked by the insights of Wilberforce and of Piper. On the other hand, I don't know about your neck of the woods, but at least where we live, alongside retired folks and other leisure lovers, there is a growing population of idle poor. Receiving various types of Government assistance, numbers of people are encouraged by this "free" income to avoid work at all, which would, for them, involve a minimum wage job. If they are able to make as much or more not working, then the conclusion is, why work? We have a new leisure class.

He was writing about Christians, nominal perhaps, so it's possible a parallel can't be drawn. Though there are some who claim to be saved, yet live, what is called here a "laidback" lifestyle, or one filled with excuses at any rate. Local tradition on the Big Island often has the wife working or getting Welfare and a boyfriend or husband unemployed. I guess it's no worse than any other type of unconfessed and unrepented sin that can linger in a redeemed life, until the Holy Spirit convicts. Paul warns against idleness, and even says not to associate with those who will not work if they are able. 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15

What's Openhandedness Got to Do With Vacations?

The ten Commandments

were the only ones written, literally and figuratively, in stone. The other laws and decrees were the Old Covenant, fulfilled in Jesus by the New Covenant in his blood - though with some older statues reaffirmed and commanded by Him. However, be that as it may, there's an incredible amount of truth, symbolism, history, medical insight and wisdom to be gleaned, not to mention the conviction of the Holy Spirit. I get so much from reading the Old Testament right along with the New. It drives me nuts when I hear believers say they only read the New Testament, can't "get into" the Old? It's the Holy Spirit who gets you into it. Just ask.

As, for instance, today in Deuteronomy:15:4,5, 7 & 11 - Generosity is not an option, but a command - though with a blessing attached. Despite the fact that "there should be no poor among you ... if only you fully obey the Lord ... there will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded..." This is God talking to me here. I'm usually all, THEY SHOULD GET A JOB or GROW A GARDEN WHY DON'T YOU? I so need to keep this in mind and heart. We're not responsible for what others have done or should be doing, only for our own heart attitudes and what we do about it. God takes care of the rest.

Lovey the cat is on permanent vacation

Then, there's a dimension of openhandedness toward ourselves. A time away from the usual grind, apart even from the week-end or sabbath rest, was also commanded - not merely suggested (Deuteronomy 16). So, we can learn from this, even though it's not "written in stone," the concept is most likely something very beneficial. Some people have a difficult time with the idea of a "vacation."
My husband, for instance, can't stand the thought of all that wasted down time. He would be SO BORED the whole trip and want to just go to sleep. I think he likes his job so much, it's not really like Work? All the same, the instruction in Deuteronomy 15:19-20 is interesting:

"Do not put the firstborn of your oxen to work, and do not shear the first-born of your sheep. Each year you and your family are to eat them in the presence of the Lord your God at the place he will choose."

This seems to presage the later words of Jesus: "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath." (Mark 2:27) It was for their own benefit. There is a place for something aside from work and utility, in fact commanded, because he knew the nature of man. Or, some men, to overdo the work ethic. But, note, the work WAS a given. Also - they were to leave their homes for this break. It's too easy to get caught up in stuff that needs to get done when it's staring you in the face. Or, "we can't spend this on a vacation, we need to invest it", and so on.