QUIET AND INDUSTRIOUS

"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." (1 Thess 4:11, NKJV)

Other versions read, "to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business" (NASB), and "aspire to live quietly, to mind your own affairs" (NRSV). At first, this may appear to contradict the exhortation to increase more and more in the love of the brethren. In view of current "Christian" emphases, it also has a rather strange sound – at least to those who are not accustomed to living by faith.

ASPIRE. The KJV uses the word "study," which emphasizes being eager, or earnest, to do something. Here is a commendable kingdom trait: aspiring, or studying. The word "aspire" means to strive earnestly, to be ambitious about something, and make it our aim, or goal. It infers there is progress that can be realized, and that we want to make it. The strength of aspiration, or ambition, is seen elsewhere in Scripture. "Therefore also we have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him" (2 Cor 5:9, NASB). It is noble for believers to have spiritual ambitions, or godly aims. It involves applying ourselves to the specified areas, and being eager to make some advancement in them. It will be interesting to behold the areas in which the Spirit here urges us to have aspirations and strong ambitions.

A QUIET LIFE. This is a life characterized by peace. The individual is not running here and there, becoming involved in the matters of others. This is a life that does not cause disturbance for others. It is a life that is not disruptive, intrusive, or unsettling. Quietness involves being silent, living peaceably with our own families. It is the opposite of "talebearing," "whispering," and "backbiting" (Lev 19:6; Rom 1:29-30). This involves behaving ourselves so as not to cause disruption in our neighborhood or city. It is to "lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty" (1 Tim 2:2).

A "QUIET LIFE" IS THE RESULT of having personal "quietness." Isaiah affirmed that "quietness and assurance" are the "effect of righteousness" (Isa 32:17). This is "being still," and knowing that God IS God (Psa 46:10). In this condition, we realize the effects of receiving wisdom "from above," which is "first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated" (James 3:17). Such individuals do not agitate those about them, but are rather "peacemakers."

AT ITS ROOT, quietness is an aspect of faith. In it, we trust in the Lord, and, as a result, the believer "shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid" (Jer 30:10). It is still true, "in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength" (Isa 30:15). It is not enough to simply know these texts. It must be our aspiration for them to be fulfilled in us.

MINDING YOUR OWN BUSINESS. Each believer has a full plate with which to be occupied, without intruding into the affairs of others. While it is not popular to speak in this manner, the Spirit often makes a point of this. The second letter to the Thessalonians confirms the need for this exhortation. "For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies" (2 Thess 3:11). The Spirit speaks of young widows who "learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house" (1 Tim 5:13). Solemnly we are admonished to not be "a busybody in other men's matters" (1 Pet 4:15). Minding our own business is bearing our own burden. As it is written, "for each one should carry his own load" (Gal 6:5, NIV). That statement follows a seemingly contradictory one: "Carry each other's burdens" (Gal 6:2). There is a facet of our lives that can only be maintained by ourselves. There are grace and personal fellowship with Christ to be proficient in these areas.

IN ITS BROADEST SENSE, minding your own business is "working out your own salvation with fear and trembling" (Phil 2:12). In its most detailed sense, it is devoting ourselves to the area in which God has placed us. Servants, for example, are to "be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ" (Eph 6:5). Wives are "to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed" (Tit 2:5). Husbands are to "provide for their own" (1 Tim 5:8), love their wives (Eph 5:28), and bring up their children "in the nurture and admonition of the Lord"(Eph 6:4). Each person is to take their own life seriously, doing all within their power to avoid deficiencies and disruptions in the lives of others. In minding your own business, be "fervent in Spirit, serving the Lord" (Rom 12:11).

WORKING WITH YOUR OWN HANDS. Working with our own hands is the opposite of idleness, a curse to be avoided. When God consigned Adam to a life of toil by the sweat of his face (Gen 3:19), it was more than a curse. It was also therapeutic, assisting men to avoid sinful lusts. In such work, there will be provision for supporting the weak (Acts 20:35), and providing for the needy (Eph 4:28). In times of need, Paul himself, though an Apostle worked with his hands (1 Cor 4:12). The rule of God is, "If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat" (2 Thess 3:10).

– Given O. Blakely