Jake and I have been reading through 1 Thessalonians recently as he prepares the preaching series for next term. Among many other things, Paul encourages the Thessalonians to “make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, …mind your own business and work with your hands… so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.” (1 Thess 4:11-12)
God doesn’t expect anything fancy from us – he’s not expecting you to be an incredible evangelist, or a miracle worker. He just expects you to get on with living the Christian life. God is the miracle worker – he saves us by Jesus Christ and he is at work in us by his Holy Spirit to strengthen us to live quiet and godly lives.
Often our ambitions are flashy things that make us look good: having a career that people marvel at; or a house that other people envy. But as Christians our ambition should be much simpler – we don’t draw attention to ourselves – we don’t want the glory – we know that the glory goes to Christ.
So we get on with living our lives for Christ, working hard and being people of love and integrity.
Yours in Christ,
Ben Boardman
