“The person who labors, labors for himself, for his hungry mouth drives him on” (Proverbs 16:26).
If “necessity is the father of invention”, then hunger is the mother of industry. Working hard and enjoying the fruit of that labor is a thoroughly Biblical concept. The inspired apostle Paul, for example, declared: “The hardworking farmer must be the first to partake of the crops” (2 Tim. 2:6).
At the foundation of capitalism is the tenet that you get to keep what you earn. Therefore, “if anyone will not work, neither shall he eat” (2 Thes. 3:10).
Collectivism (i.e., socialism and communism) is built upon the belief that you should labor for the good of the community; i.e., you are greedy and selfish to desire and expect to keep what you earn. In truth, the greedy and selfish person is the one who covets another’s earned and rightful possessions and is too lazy to work to provide for his own. Such a sluggard needs to “go to the ant…Consider her ways and be wise, which, having no captain, overseer or ruler, provides her supplies in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest” (Prov. 6:6-8).
Anyone who fails to provide for his own family—especially for any living, aged widow—is worse than an unbeliever (1 Tim. 5:8). Though the doctrines and commandments of men and human traditions may provide a “loophole” in the divine command to honor your father and your mother, God’s word does not (Mark 7:6-13) and never has.
Earn your keep and keep your earnings.
Sad to say a large segment of our society has lost sight of Biblical principles and morality. The result is a loss of industry, innovation and thrift. It is replaced by sloth and covetousness.