MAKE IT YOUR AMBITION

“Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to 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.”

I Thessalonians 4:11

I chose this as my life verse very early in my decision to follow Jesus and walk with God.  It serves me well when I heed it and waits patiently for me when I get off track and get over involved with too many causes that beckon me to be apart of.  Paul wrote it but I believe Jesus lived it; so it serves as a good pattern to follow.

These past few weeks have been like a deluge of hard rain falling.  Every issue under the sun has been brought to surface; racial violence, white supremacy, divided churches, marriage, and flags, all fueled by hate.  Our world of social media has given a venue for everyone to have and voice an opinion on matters they may or may not be well educated with, matters they have no personal experience with, and matters they would do better not to have an opinion on and certainly not voice one.  I felt bombarded on every side and finally decided enough is enough.

My sociology teacher back in my early college years had a poster in her room that said; “When all is said and done there is more said than done.”  If I learned anything in those years, it was that truth.  We, as a nation, talk way too much and do way too little.  It is as though having an opinion is the important thing, what more can be expected? 

There must have been a whole lot of bad things going on in the Roman Empire when Jesus came on the scene.  With the exception of the cleansing of the temple I don’t see him running around yelling and screaming, giving opinions on all the issues in his little corner of the world.  He simply went around doing what God had sent him to do.  That is the pattern I want to follow.

This is God’s world, a world that He loved enough to send His Son into.  God knows all the issues, all the injustices, all the problems, and all that can be done to solve them.  But His voice needs to be heard, which is often difficult when everybody under the sun is talking.  So I say, let’s be silent and listen.  He will give us the work for our hands if we sit in silence before him with listening ears and a listening heart.  Let’s keep our opinions to our selves and heed God’s voice and direction.  He will fix His world when we acknowledge it is His to fix and He is more that able to do so.