A simple life
by Chelsea Pietsch
Click here to download your printable verse to carry with you today.
‘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’ (1 Thessalonians 4:11).
We live in an age of celebrity. What started as glossy magazines and reality TV shows has morphed into social media and the 24/7 news cycle. Many of us now pin our profiles online in numerous forums and cast our opinions far and wide on the web. Sometimes we do this with good intentions and the right motives. Other times it’s an act of self-promotion.
Yet the type of life St Paul calls us to in this passage is a simple one. It’s a life that is not grasping, not trying to prove anything, and not striving for wealth, success, or recognition. It’s a life that receives what has been given to us and realises the futility and vanity in anxious self-promotion.
This sort of life comes about when we have a grounded sense of identity. It comes about when we know that we were created, not self-made. It comes about when we recognise that our life and breath are given to us by God, and one day will be taken away.
There may be times when God calls us to do something extraordinary. But when he does not, we are called to lives that are quiet, selfless, and focused on others; lives that are willing to do the unseen tasks like cleaning the church, photocopying documents, or wiping the baby’s bottom.
We may feel that we are ‘above’ such ordinary tasks. This is especially true in our technological age, where we crave constant entertainment and gratification. But St Paul encourages us not to neglect the created world, which involves the slow and patient art of working with our hands.
Is there a way you can work with your hands today? Can you plant something in your garden? Offer to mind someone’s child for an hour? Iron your handkerchiefs? Put together a model plane or start a needlework project? And as you do this, pray for peace and a quiet heart.
Dear Lord, please put to death all my worldly ambition. Let me be ambitious for one thing, which is to follow your call with quietness, humility, and trust. Amen.
- Click here to read previous devotions.
- We are also posting them on LCA Facebook, making it easy for you to share them with family and friends.
- Sign up to receive Daily Devotion in your inbox every morning. If you’re already doing that, please encourage others to sign up. Click here for the link.
