“And that you study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you.”
In verses 9-10, Paul reminded the Thessalonians that they were to love one another, then in our text he gave them some advice, from which all of us could benefit. Paul advised them to “study to be quiet.” The NIV translates it: “Make it your ambition to be quiet.” The Beauchamp interpretation of this is “make it a point to be quiet.” I don’t think that Paul intended for them to never speak about anything. In that case they would never be able to witness to others about Jesus. I look at it this way: There is a time to speak and a time to be quiet. Now, I can’t speak for you but I can tell you that there have been many times in my life when I wished I had kept my mouth shut. I imagine that many of you have had the same experience. I think the total message of the Bible bears out that we are wise when we keep our mouths shut when we should keep them shut, and that we should speak up when it’s time to speak up. Then we should really learn the difference between the two. Don’t you agree? I know that there are times when we really want to speak out about something, but before we do, we should think twice about it. Sometimes what we have to say might be important and helpful, but at other times we might cause more trouble than we do to help the situation. I’ve heard people speak out in church conferences when I thought they would have done better had they held their tongues. To be fair, I must confess that I have probably been guilty of the same thing at some time or other. Paul advised them “to do your own business.” The NIV translates it: “To mind your own business.” That’s what I saw when I read it. There are times that we might be justified in “putting in our two cents worth” when dealing with other people. More often than not it is a better idea to hold off until they invite you into their business. When I was a pastor, people would tell me about a husband and wife having problems and that I should go and talk with them. I learned from bitter experience that the best thing for me to do was to put that couple on the top of my prayer list and wait until they invited me into their troubles. That seems to be callous, but if you think about it, you do not wish for people to mind your business until you are ready for them to. As a general rule, I finally ended up talking with them because God heard and answered my prayers. It is a good idea to do more praying than prying – if you get my drift. I know that there are times when we feel that we have good advice to offer people about their lives, and sometimes that may be true. What we need to do is think prayerfully and carefully think about this lest we be accused rightly of not minding our business. Paul advised them: “and to work with your own hands.” This was a particular problem in Thessalonica. Some of them had the mistaken idea that because Jesus might be returning at any time; therefore, they could just quit working and do nothing until He came. In 2 Thessalonians, Paul advised those people that: “Those who do not work will not eat.” This doesn’t give us an excuse to withhold help from needy people. There are people who genuinely need help, but there are also people who are just lazy and want others to take care of them. As Christians, we are advised to be industrious in our lives and to make our contribution to the betterment of life. It could be that you need none of this advice from Paul – good for you. However there are people out there who desperately need it. It is important because it is in the word of God. Bro. Joe
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
All
Archives
September 2021
|