We are commanded to work

My family has one individual in my mother's generation that has a job.  She hates it with a bloody purple passion, but she goes to work, and makes a salary that's two-thirds that of the ones who do a quarter of her work (yes, she does do the work of four people, but she doesn't have a college degree). 

I was recently talking to one of my aunts, a woman who lives on her husband's blind pension and Social Security check, and complains about how little money they have to live on.  She cited Matthew 6 as why she won't get off her ass and go earn a paycheck (well, that and the whole "married women aren't supposed to work outside the house" bullshit--countered here Biblically):

"Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?...And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these....Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things." KJV Matthew 6:26, 28-29, 31-32

All of my family reads this as permission to do nothing.  The only thing they do is sit at home, make a huge show  of reading the Bible, singing hymns, and praying several times a day (something the very same chapter recommends against), and God help me if I call during their three-times-a-day hour-long worship service.

Basically, they read this as "Do nothing; God will make sure you get what you need."  

And it is absolutely not so.  They forgot the parable of the talents.  And, apparently, haven't read 2 Thessalonians chapter 3 lately: 

"Neither did we eat any man's bread for nought; but wrought with labour and travail night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you: Not because we have not power, but to make ourselves an ensample unto you to follow us.  For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat." (2 Thessalonians 3:8-10)

Thing is, my family would likely say that the passage from Matthew overrides the passage from Thessalonians, because the passage from Matthew is Christ's own words, while Thessalonians is taken from three of His stewards.  I don't think it does--I think, rather, they dovetail together.  Yes, the passage from Matthew does say don't worry about what you're going to eat, or what you're going to wear, and the passage from Thessalonians says that if you won't work, you won't eat; however, I think that the passage from Matthew has been deliberately misinterpreted by the welfare crowd.  I think it's saying don't borrow trouble.  Don't worry.  It's saying do your best, and God will help you with the rest. 

It does say don't be obsessed with food and clothing to the exclusion of everything good and Godly, but that harks back to the whole "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me" thing from Exodus.  It does not say sit back and leave everything up to God.