I listened to a sermon by Francis Chan this week.
He talked about this verse in 1 Thessalonians that I hadn’t really thought about before.
“aspire to lead a quiet life, to attend to your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you. In this way you will live a decent life before outsiders and not be in need.”
1 Thessalonians 4:11-12
Read the verse in your favorite translation here.
What Francis Chan said unlocked something in me…
He pointed out how we don’t do this. We try to grow our ministries and we shout on our social media accounts for Jesus.
But that’s not what the Bible said to do.
When Jesus healed someone, he often told them to keep it a secret.
Jesus lived a quiet life…like he tells us to.
Are you rejecting it?
Part of the reason this stands out to me so much is that I wrote an article about accepting life with open arms just last week.
I shared that numbing and controlling and scrolling are all ways of rejecting the beautiful life God gave us.
It’s important not to reject life, right?
But what I realized this week (thanks to another great sermon), is that we often reject God’s Word too.
Rejecting God’s word is really serious.
But we do it so often…
A verse like this? One that says to do things counter-culturally?
We can reject it so easily.
Even if it’s not intentional, and we’re just not reading the Word regularly, we’re on a downhill path.
It’s still rejecting the Word, which is a LIGHT to guide our path.
And it points to the LIGHT of the world…Jesus.
Application
I’m sorry guys. I haven’t been living 1 Thess. 4:11-12.
I repent, and my new aspiration is to live a quiet life.
If you’re already living a quiet life–great job. Make sure that you’re not rejecting any other part of God’s word.
We reject God’s word when we:
- Live like it’s not true.
- Decide not to follow it.
- Don’t read it.
If you’re rejecting God’s word in any way, resolve in your heart to change that now.
Resolve to accept God’s word and cultivate it and let it grow in you and produce a harvest of light.
Want help filling your life with light? I got you. Join my mailing list and I’ll send you a playlist of songs to help you smile more and cry less + an article every week. Sign up–it’s free!
Amen! Great word, Vella. I repent for living like it’s not true. What a great reminder that though I confess it, I need to believe it fully, so I can live it.
Thanks, Pat! I’m glad it encouraged you. <3
Francis Chan is good! I haven’t listened to him for a while, but he has good sermons!
I am interested in this one, do you know what it is called? I would like to listen to it. I am finding myself disagreeing in a way and would like to hear him explain it to see if I am maybe missing something.
I think he has an amazing point! There are some things in this life that God does for us and they are only meant for us. We aren’t to share those things, just like some people weren’t supposed to share miracles. But then there are other things we are supposed to share. There are people Jesus healed and He told them to go tell people what He had done. And I guess my other thought that I was having was what about Mark 16:15? Are we not to share Jesus and our testimony with the world? But at the same time, like I mentioned above, there are things Jesus has done for us in our lives that are just for us—so that we know His love and faithfulness.
Yes, he’s great!
That’s such a good point, Lydia. Here’s the link to his full sermon, there was so much I couldn’t fit, so I absolutely recommend listening to it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOzIKZs0ymE
One thing I’ve thought about in the week since I wrote this is that Jesus still led a public ministry. I think that this might be one of those things we have to hold in tension: living quietly and sharing our testimonies at the same time.