Make It Your Ambition to Be Quiet
“and to 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 puts two words together that do not normally go together. Ambition is what you want people to see. A quiet life is what nobody sees. He was writing to a young church that expected the world to end shortly, and some of them had stopped working because of it. His instruction is the opposite of dramatic: do your job, mind your own affairs, do not become a burden.
Paul is writing to people who had stopped working because they decided the world was about to end. Somebody else was feeding them in the meantime. It happens that a person has a good reason to drop their obligations, and the bill is paid by whoever is standing next to them. Paul does not check whether the reason was good. He asks who did it instead.
Do Monday Properly
- 1Pick the least interesting task in front of you today and do it thoroughly instead of quickly.
- 2Finish one thing today that somebody else would otherwise have to redo after you.
God, most of what I do today will not be noticed by anybody. I would like it to matter anyway. Please help me do it properly rather than fast. And keep me from leaving work behind for somebody else.
I can carry my own share today.
Why does Paul pair ambition with quietness?
The two words pull against each other on purpose. He is redirecting the drive for recognition toward ordinary work.
What was the problem in Thessalonica?
Some believers had stopped working, apparently expecting the end shortly. Paul tells them to go back to their hands.
Is this against ambition altogether?
No. He keeps the word and changes what it points at.