November 23, 2024

I Thessalonians 4.11, 12 (NIV)

Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.

Sloth and general demoralization are as invidious and debilitating as many a more open sin.*

Some of the church members in Thessalonica were convinced that Christ’s return was imminent so they had quit going to work. With time on their hands, they were stirring up and getting into trouble. They weren’t wrong to be preparing for the Lord’s return, but Paul’s reprimand is as true for us as it was for them. We, too, should zealously seek a quiet life; tend to our own responsibilities; and work with our hands. Not all of us actually “work with our hands,” but we would be within the scope of Paul’s requirements if we work with what we have “at hand,” whether our work is mental or physical. Today, he might say to us, “Just do it!”

When we say, “Mind your own business,” we are implying that the other person is meddling. Paul would probably disapprove of meddling, but in this passage he is exhorting us to tend to our actual business – our homes, our jobs, our own responsibilities. He doesn’t intend that we shouldn’t care for or get involved with other people; we just need to be careful that that our “helpfulness” isn’t just a sneaky way of butting in. It is a fact that “brotherly love has been known to degenerate into unbrotherly interference with one’s brethren.”*

And why do these things matter? First, to present an honorable appearance to those outside the church. To outsiders, our manner of living is seen as more important than what we teach.* They aren’t wrong. And the second reason it matters: so that we lack none of the necessities of life.* While “God helps those who help themselves” is not in the Bible, it is not completely unscriptural. It is one of Paul’s rules that if a man won’t work, he shall not eat (II Thessalonians 3.10).  And in II Timothy 5.8, he says that anyone who doesn’t provide for his own family has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

There is no shame in being poor and there is no guarantee that hard work will make us prosperous; nevertheless, we are to set an example to the world with our diligence and willingness to be productive citizens. And perhaps they will also be impressed with our ability to mind our own business!

They aren’t going to glorify God because . . . we finally convince them they are wrong. They will glorify God when we start acting like Jesus and show them what right looks like.*