Question:  My girlfriend has a 17-year old daughter who is in church every time the doors are opened.   I think this is good, as she is a dedicated Christian.  Here is my situation.  As I said, her daughter is 17 years old.  She is a freshman in college at a local university and living at home.  She has a part-time job at a local retail store that helps with her college expenses and helps my girlfriend as well since she is a single mom with no help from the father, financially or otherwise.  This young lady has had many opportunities to work on Wednesday nights but refuses to because of going to church that night.   Frankly, she says her only responsibility should be to God and His work and that she owes no responsibility to her employer.  She says that God will take care all her needs and she shouldn’t even have to work.  Aside from going to school, she has a car to keep up, insurance, tithing, clothes, books and so on.  My girlfriend helps her with most of that, but how can you show her that in life here on earth, that you can still be a good Christian, and understand that you do have other responsibilities such as work.  

            I am sure that somewhere in the Bible, there is something dedicated to the fact that people should honor their responsibilities while they are temporarily here.  Please tell me where it is and also what I can do to make her understand this.  It will be harder to prepare someone for the real world if we let them go on thinking that they have no responsibilities to a job.

            Thanks,

            Jim

Answer:  Dear Jim,

            Several points:

1.  I am sure that this young lady’s mother would agree that there are certainly more severe problems that she, as a mother, could be confronted with from a 17-year old daughter.

2.      The young lady is 17 and does not appear, from your description, to understand the balance between spiritual devotion and physical responsibilities.  There are mature adults who do not understand this.  There are those who decide to devote themselves to God full-time and there are opportunities that some churches provide for individuals to do so.

3.      On the other hand, there is a possibility that anyone, 17 or 57, could be neglecting to face responsibilities in their life and using the church as a justification to avoid doing so.

            Paul’s instructions about slaves and how they should be “good employees” (another issue, but slavery was not addressed as a social issue by the New Testament church) can often be helpful – see Colossians 3:22.  Paul also taught that Christians should value work – see 2 Thessalonians 3:11-12.

            Hope this helps.

            In Christ,

            Greg Albrecht