Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and 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.
1 Thessalonians 4:11–12 NIV
Paul encouraged the church at Thessalonica to make it their ambition to live quietly, mind their own business, and work with their hands. In other words, stay busy and take care of your own life, not someone else’s. By doing this, they might win the respect of others.
Minding their own business is difficult for some. Gossip is like the curiosity that killed the cat. Once we hear it, it nags at us to learn more until we end up seeing and knowing more than we should. And if we spread what we’ve learned, we’re only promoting something that could hurt others. In the process of being curious, we may get involved in something we shouldn’t have.
Paul’s advice is good for us, too. In an age when you can learn just about anything through social media or the Internet, Christians must be careful not to cause harm to others by gossiping about something we see on Facebook or in a text. We will never be the witness or example for Christ that we need to be if we promote such actions. Leading a quiet life and minding our own business brings honor to God and shines His light on others.
Father, teach me to be discreet and wise about the things I say and do. Amen.
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Today’s reading was adapted from Daily Wisdom for Women: 2017 Devotional Collection with permission from Barbour Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. Reading was written by Vickie Phelps.