The Quiet Life

Today's Reading:  1 Thessalonians 4

 

Scripture:

"and make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we taught you."  1 Thessalonians 4:9

 

Observation:

Live in purity; verse 3.  Live in love; verse 9.  Live with hope; verse 13.  Those are the three main challenges I see in this chapter and are three corner stones I see to living this quiet life style Paul calls for in this chapter.

 

Application:

Sexual impurity is so destructive.  There is no way I can live a quiet life if this aspect of my life is not in balance.  I have heard it said by men, "its ok to look a the menu as long as you don't eat."  But that is a lie.  Jesus said that to even look upon a woman lustfully was to commit adultery in the heart. I must never allow even a hint of immorality to take root in my heart.

 

Love is hard.  People do some crazy things and they can really get the best of me.  Here is the thing I love about this passage; it teaches me that God Himself teaches me this part.  God is the only being who can teach the level of love he desires for us to achieve.  If I walk with Him in obedience, He will give me more and more of His heart for people.

 

Hope can be difficult.  Jesus is coming back, there is a life after this one, and heaven is beyond what we can imagine.  The key to living a quiet life on earth is to know that regardless of what happens here life is not over at death.  The choice I made to surrender to God forever sealed my eternity.  It is set.  I have nothing left to fear.  Anything that happens to me on earth is only temporary. I have to trust that God is at work completing His purpose for both me and this world in which I live.

 

Prayer:

Father purity at the level You demand is impossible for me.  Images of sex exist everywhere.  Fashion trends for women's clothing increasingly call for less fabric.  Advertisements for products have plastered distracting images all over the place.  There is truly no place to go where temptation is not readily available.  I ask today that You help me live smart.  Help me learn to protect my eyes and my heart from committing sin.  My longings for intimacy belong exclusively to my wife.

 

Father love at the level You demand is impossible for me.  Clashes of personality, intentional attacks, bad attitudes, gossip campaigns, and hard hearts are just a few of the many things that make humanity work against love for each other.  This one is so far beyond my grasp that I do not even know how to get started other than to beg for Your teaching.  Give me the ability to love beyond what I am capable of reaching on my own.

 

Father there is no way I can live with a hope towards heaven or Your return if those things are not absolutely alive in my heart.  I pray that heaven and the coming return become a tangible reality in my heart.  Help me place all my focus towards those two things.

 

My life and all that is in it belong to You.  I ask that Your Holy Spirit guide me in making wise choices that will produce a quiet lifestyle honoring to You.