Twin City church of Christ Blog
“Feb 8, 2024 - Mind Your Own Business”
Categories: 2024 Reading DevotionalsMind Your Own Business
Reading: 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12
Paul writes the Thessalonians about the one thing he doesn’t need to write about. “Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia”(1 Thess 4:9-10). Paul addresses several matters in this letter, but this is one he feels no need to dwell on because they are already doing it! He wants them to know that this “brotherly love” is not a natural affection they have for each other, but because they “have been taught by God.” When we earnestly care for people we have no physical connection to, God is behind it.
Paul encourages them to continue loving and “to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you”(1 Thess 4:11). There is a problem at Thessalonica: some of them have stopped working and rely on their Christian brothers to support them financially (see also 2 Thess 3:6-14). Paul wants them to “live quietly,” refusing to intrude on the lives of others because of their own choice not to work. Instead, Christians should take care of their own financial business and do their own work to provide for themselves. This choice has two effects: it helps us “walk properly before outsiders” who see that our faith promotes hard work and leaves us “dependent on no one”(1 Thess 4:12). While it is loving to give to others in need, it is not loving to willfully persist in need and force others to give to us.
The first church in Jerusalem was known for its extreme generosity to those among them in need (see Acts 2:44-45 and 4:32-35). This text speaks to the other extreme: people abusing generosity because they refuse to work for themselves. Paul wants us to “mind your own business,” well aware that when I fail to do so, my needs spill over onto others. I have my own business—financial, family, emotional. Others can help me, support me, and pray for me, but my business is ultimately my responsibility.
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One Thing to Think About: How might loving others and minding my own business be connected?
One Thing to Pray For: Wisdom to “walk properly before outsiders”
