Today's Reading:O.T. - 2 Kings 24 - 25
N.T. - 1 Thessalonians 4
I will be speaking about this text and topic at Evensong Worship, on Sunday evening, February 11.
Focus Verses: 1 Thes. 4:11,12
11Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, 12so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.
Insight:
The ambition of Christians, Paul says, is to be directed toward a quiet life. In their everyday lives they should avoid being a burden on others, mind their own affairs, hold down a job, and do honest work. Christians should live in a way that wins the respect of those who do not yet know or follow Christ. When I look at the world around me, I see many people who are ambitious for possessions, achievement, success, happiness, and status. It seems like I see all those things at church too. I wonder what answers I would get if I asked ten Christians what they thought they should be ambitious about. Saving the world? Social justice? Bible study? Missions? Evangelism? Social issues? Holiness? How many of them would say that "a quiet life" should be their ambition?
Response and Action:
What does ambition mean to me? What are my ambitions? As a follower of Jesus, I will be ambitious toward my everyday life. I will do an honest day's work; I will mind my own business; and I will try not to be a burden on others. I will do my best to live in a way that earns the respect of my neighbors and friends. Living for Jesus begins with the life I live at home, at work, and in my community. I will not let other lofty ambitions distract me from the most basic of ambitions. The first part of the world I want to change is the part between my haircut and my shoes.
Dear Lord, help me to love you with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength; and help me to love my neighbor as myself. Help me to live a quiet life. Provide for my needs today, and help me to be hardworking and responsible about my daily life. Help me to pay my bills, to be a good worker, to take care of my home, to be a good steward of all you have entrusted to me. Grant me the wisdom and the will to guard my heart, feed my spirit, stimulate my mind, and care for my body. Help me to live an admirable life that is a testimony of your grace and power at work in me. Amen.
Proverbs: 3:3-4
"Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man."
Resources:
Living the Story: Biblical Spirituality for Everyday Christians
by R. Paul Stevens and Michael Green
