One famous use of this Bible verse comes from John Smith’s journal of early America.

Smith was a seaman and a former soldier. Unlike most of the 104 men and boys that arrived in Jamestown in May of 1607, John knew how to hunt, fish, tend crops, build houses, and talk with Native Americans. The crew that emptied into the marshy Virginia land didn’t.

Instead of building a sustainable settlement, they spent their days in pursuit of gold. With no sanitation system, they polluted their water. Without adequate crops, they had no winter food supply.

By the time the cold arrived, less than a third survived. That spring, when a new group of settlers landed, John Smith took over. He divvied out jobs and forced people to work at them. “He that will not work shall not eat,” he said. Those words saved the colony.

The early church was like the colonies. New Christians lived in a setting often hostile to them. They needed their community. While sharing worship, meals, and resources bound them together, laziness and taking advantage of the group’s generosity was like a hole in the walls of the fort.

When everyone offers what they can, the community not only survives, but thrives.