On every hand people seem reluctant really to apply themselves to work, and many who hire them complain that they are becoming more and more dilatory, lax and indifferent. “Slow down; the job you save may be your own,” is said to be the slogan of many shop stewards. Strikes are said to be the bane of society in many countries, with labor unrest becoming increasingly troublesome to employers. Changing attitudes toward work were emphasized by one youngster: “Don’t tell me how to work. I am from a different generation and we just do not work that hard.”

3. What is another aspect of the failure-to-work problem?

³ Not only is working hard becoming more and more unpopular but apparently many connive at means to avoid all work. That facet of the failure-to-work problem is presented by the February 8, 1971, issue of U.S. News & World Report under the subject “Welfare Out of Control,” deploring the widespread situation typified by that in New York city, where one of every six persons was said to be on relief, mainly because of “fiscal abandonment” by fathers who refuse to work, and evade responsibility of supporting their children and the mothers of those children. In his State of the Union message on January 22, 1971, the United States president, in advocating solutions to the serious problem, declared: “Let us also establish an effective work incentive and an effective work requirement.”

4. (a) Must Christians be compelled to work? (b) Why should man find enjoyment in the work he does?

⁴ True Christians need not be compelled to work. Such laziness is condemned by the Bible, which gives this instruction: “Make it your aim to live quietly and to mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we ordered you.” (1 Thess. 4:11) God made man so that he might find enjoyment in the work he does, deriving deep satisfaction and contentment thereby. Such provision truly is a grand gift and blessing from Jehovah. “Every man should eat and indeed drink and see good for all his hard work. It is the gift of God. And I have seen that there is nothing better than that the man should rejoice in his works, for that is his portion.”​—Eccl. 3:13, 22; 2:10, 24; 5:18.

5. Explain why God’s people need to shun worldly attitudes toward work.

⁵ Accordingly, God’s people need to shun worldly attitudes toward work. It is essential that they work to support themselves and for their loved ones “make honest provision, not only in the sight of Jehovah, but also in the sight of men.” (2 Cor. 8:21; 2 Thess. 3:10; 1 Tim. 5:8) They are well aware that laziness will lead to poverty and ruin, not only concerning material support but especially concerning spiritual things. (Prov. 10:4; 24:33, 34; 21:25) To view such matters as simply part of life would be disastrous, especially if the infection of laziness affected one’s spiritual works and afflicted one’s spirituality. Truly, “laziness causes a deep sleep to fall, and a slack soul goes hungry.”​—Prov. 19:15.

A report concerning Harvard University’s 1970 graduating class says “that students are increasingly uncertain about what to do after college and that many are accepting, even welcoming, manual jobs . . . many recent graduates were taking jobs as taxi drivers, warehousemen, book store clerks and craftsmen because they feared that their identities would be subsumed and their energies misdirected in traditional jobs.”​—New York Times, March 3, 1971.

12. (a) What is youth’s attitude toward traditional occupations and working hard? (b) What works are vain and what works will bring contentment and happiness?

¹² Today’s youth is increasingly skeptical of following traditional occupations, observing that few who do so find pleasure in such pursuit, and the anxieties, neuroses and mental and physical disorders of those who do so proclaim the failure of their course. One cynic expressed his disenchantment waggishly: “Let us work hard and save our money and then, when we are old, we will be able to afford the things only young people enjoy.”