Bible Soap

Scripture:

1 Thessalonians 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.

Observation:

These words, in the middle of a letter from Paul to one of the earliest churches in what is commonly thought to be the earliest of his letters, should make one stop and think, as they did for me. They don’t sound the same as ‘go out and win people for Christ’ to me (but they do sound like what we as Christians often settle for instead of that). But of course, ripping them out of context and applying them to our lives because they sound comforting is not acceptable. Why did Paul write this to the Thessalonians?

Well, we can guess / assume various things from these 2 verses – presumably there were people in this church who were not working, and living off the kindness of others, which wasn’t the example of Christian living that Paul wanted to cultivate. We get more clues in his second letter to the church (2 Thess 3:6-15), where Paul develops the theme, and makes it very clear indeed what he was referring to! So far from being an instruction to live one’s life in secret, the original verses from 1 Thessalonians were an instruction to those Christians to abhor idleness and get on with life without sponging off others.

Application:

Paul’s application, from 2 Thessalonians, is simple – if you don’t work, you don’t eat. Simple, clear, economically sound! For me, this is another reminder of context being vital in understanding and applying Scripture. I can imagine Christians (new or otherwise) reading the verses I selected and applying them to their lives for ever, leading quiet Christian lives that don’t bother anyone because that’s what Paul teaches. But that doesn’t match with the whole of the rest of the Bible, which challenges us continually to ‘get out there’ and spread the good news. I have been very challenged about this recently, through my Bible reading, my Bible listening which I have recently started (podcasts from www.dailyaudiobible.com – I’m not a big fan of the presenter’s delivery, or the occasional cheesy ‘I love you all’ message at the end, but it is really uplifting to listen to the text of the Bible regularly, and I love the fact that they use a different translation each week – keeps it varied), and sermons at church. Now I need to do something about it…

Prayer:

Lord, praise you for the whole of Scripture, and that we have instruction and teaching that matches up – please help us to use your word responsibly, and apply it to our lives with wisdom. And Lord, please help me to listen to you and do what you’re asking me to, in terms of spreading the gospel to friends who I want to know you.