“…that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you…“
Certain members of the church at Thessalonica became fanatics, busybodies and loafers. Paul has a fourfold prescription for these people:
1. Live a calm and orderly life
2. Mind their own business
3. Engage in manual labor
4. Have a mannerly conduct
that you also aspire to lead a quiet life,
First, Paul urges the Thessalonians to aspire to a quiet life. “Aspire” comes from one Greek word with two words joined: to be fond of and honour. “Aspire” has the sense of being strongly ambitious about something or applying oneself to something. The Thessalonians were to make every effort to pursue a tranquil life. Apparently, they were bogged down by unscriptural argument and unwarranted criticism. They could channel all this misspent energy into something more advantageous.
Christians should aspire to lead a quiet life. Paul says, “Do everything in your power to lead a quiet life.” Christians should have settled souls, not noisy souls. Noisy souls come from having too much time on our hands.
Principle:
Christians usefully employed have a tendency toward more settled souls.
Application:
Christians should not get their liver in a quiver. Turmoil is not of Christ. Tone it down. Why should Christians get exasperated with one another? It does not take much to upset some of us. We fly off the handle very quickly, even at minor things. We major on the minors and minor on the majors.
We get worked up over trivial things. After it is over and we have had time to think about the situation, we say, “How foolish of me to get into a sweat over that! How immature of me to do that.” God has remedies for fretful living.
“Do not fret because of evildoers, Nor be envious of the workers of iniquity” (Psalms 37:1).
A quiet soul does not enter into rivalry with fellow Christians. Christians are not to draw attention to themselves by ungodly promotion of self. Some people love to let everyone know how important they are among the Christian herd. They establish a very clear pecking order, because they must be on top of the herd. All this comes from having too much time on their hands.
Was looking for an answer about a boss that is lazy and does not complete the work and then expects everyone else to pick up the pieces. My boss is a devout christian and does not believe in working on Sundays but gets upset with me when i work on a Sunday to complete the work that was not done in the first place. I found great joy in reading this quoted piece in your article as i was also told by my boss that she cannot switch off and is always busy thinking. “Christians should have settled souls, not noisy souls. Noisy souls come from having too much time on our hands.” She is very busy with church activities but neglects her business which employs 12 people and expects us to pick up the pieces.
Thank you for your article.
Christa
Thanks for your comment Christa.