A Quiet Life

“Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life.” 1 Thessalonians 4:11

This verse always stops me--grips me hard. It’s counter cultural in our lives that thrive on noise and hustle. Work to achieve quiet in a world that screams the opposite--in a world where ambition for all the things prevails. If we look at the context of the verse, it’s about living to please God--in a way that is holy and shows love to others and wins the respect of outsiders for the Lord. It’s about living in such a way that we can hear the voice of God--full-mouthed. 

“Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life.” Quiet is where God works. And slow is how God works--through long-suffering desert wilderness, global pandemics, and quarantines.

History has never seen such. Everyone across the planet is experiencing this same struggle, this strange aberration. Together--and yet apart--we’re learning a new way of life in which we’ve been forced to slow down and become quiet.

I’ve watched online as people have pulled in and become intentional with their families, a new normal opening and unfolding like the petals of a flower. I’ve seen neighbors offering messages of hope in sidewalk chalk and window clings. I’ve seen health care workers risk their own health and brave the unknown. And I’ve seen everyone become a lot more comfortable with going nowhere. We’re getting past the awkward silence, the need for speed.

I’ve also seen people panic, scurry mad for waste paper that will disintegrate. In grocery stores across the nation, we shop with masks and gloves. Rightly so, we are diligent about washing our hands and covering our coughs--to prevent the spread of a virus that has us living in fear. Death is scary. But where was that fear for the germ of sin that brings an even worse death? Why were we not washing our hearts in the cure--truth of God’s word--just as diligently?

These past few weeks, I’ve seen an attuning to God, who is not the author of these terrible deaths but rather of life and of everything good. Still, He allows tragedies like this to go on. I’ve heard pastors speak of what He may be doing, perhaps silencing the gods of this culture--the gods of sports, entertainment, education, fitness, finance, travel. He can and will shut down all of these voices to get our stubborn attention. In fact, sometimes it takes a pandemic for us stiff-necked people to listen to Him.

Our house has been different the past couple of weeks since the quiet. In fact, God used quiet a few years back to get my attention--to break me in reverence to Him and His word and to build me back up in tender nearness to and solace with Him. And this year I’d made the goal of broadening that circle of regular communion with God through His word to include my husband and my kids. My intentions were good but sporadic at best. Well, now we have nothing but time. Time to read His word. Funny how God answers prayers. The past couple of weeks we’ve been reading through the book of Acts together, finding a new rhythm. Moving past something that feels forced and carving out patterns that now feel familiar to the touch. We’re doing family workouts and playing card games, pulling out things we’ve stored up but not touched. Making use of what we have versus what we want.

We’re cleaning out closets and cabinets, and God is cleaning out our souls. What will He find? In my soul? In yours? Lord, may You find repentance for the ways we have let our lives drive You out. Remorse for our earthy appetites. May You find contrite hearts for our deaf ears. May we hear You and of Your Love for us. But also Your sound warning and the gravity of both a life apart from You or a life falsely cloaked with You but chasing the dream. May you find sorrow for spiritual opportunities squandered. May our souls open up in gratitude for fresh perspective--open eyes and open ears. Thankfulness for the things and people we already have. Lord, may we stay present with You and move forward with an awakening.

Just Do It: Wrestling Well with God’s Commands

What if we just did what the Bible says? A couple of years ago, the head of the Christian school at which I teach posed this question to our staff at a beginning-of-the-year in-service, and it’s stuck with me. Such as simple thought. But not an easy thing to do. Or maybe it is. Perhaps we complicate things. What if I just read the Bible each day and literally do what it says to do that day? How different would my life look day in and day out?

With the new year here, I’ve loved reading on social media about friends’ goals for reading the Bible regularly and the different plans they are using. To be doers of what the Word says, we must first be readers of the Word. I’ve been reading using an app called Replicate for about six months with a small group of ladies. We are still in the Old Testament, and one thing I have continually noticed is God’s repeated reminder to his people, to judges, to kings, and to prophets: (I’m paraphrasing) If you obey my commands, I will bless you. If you don’t obey my commands, your lives will end in destruction. This is repeated over and over again across multiple books. It seems like the Israelites would get it, doesn’t it? But do we get it?

I’ve been considering this concept of just doing what the Bible says for some time and wrestling with what it means for me. James 1:23-24 says, “Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.” I don’t want to be just a reader of the Word; I want to be a doer. When I read the Word, I pray that God will show me the ways in which I am not obeying Him fully. Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” When we read the Word, we’ve got to pray that God will use His word to spur us to action.

But what about those commandments that are really hard? I’m learning to wrestle well with them. Some of the preachers and teachers who I appreciate most are the ones who I hear and see preach the word of God and at the same time wrestle with what it means for their own lives. Take Francis Chan, for example. One of the most popular pastors of our day, he planted a church that grew from 30 to 6,000 and has authored multiple books that have brought in beaucoup money. But he looks at scriptural teachings on money with his church body and for himself decides to live on a small preacher’s salary, giving the rest away to the poor. Or he looks at teachings on loving our neighbors, and he invites ex-convicts and their families to live with his large family in their small house. This guy really believes God. Don’t you want a faith like that? I do.

What about those hard teachings? Here are some of them:

Love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you.

Wives, submit to your husbands. Husbands, love your wife as Christ loves the church.
Look after widows and orphans.

Practice hospitality.

Go and make disciples.

Do not be lovers of money. Give generously.

Consider others better than yourselves.

Be completely humble and gentle.

And the list goes on…

Some of those are really hard. They are disruptive to what is easy and to what we think we desire. But for those of us who are believers, taking seriously the hard commandments of God is part of becoming spiritually mature and believing and realizing that life lived in obedience to Christ is most satisfying.

The writer of Hebrews, in Chapters 5 and 6, makes a call to spiritual growth--to becoming spiritually mature. He says in Hebrews 5:12, “You have been believers for so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food.” Ouch. We cannot stay as we are.

But the author goes on to encourage in Hebrews 6:11-12: “Our great desire is that you will keep on loving others as long as life lasts, in order to make certain that what you hope for will come true. Then you will not become spiritually dull and indifferent. Instead, you will follow the example of those who are going to inherit God’s promises because of their faith and endurance.”

Spiritually dull and indifferent. That’s the result of stifled spiritual growth. Spiritually awakened and involved. That’s the result of a life that takes God’s commands seriously. 

We read. We wrestle. We believe. We must do. And He is faithful. 

What are you currently reading and wrestling with? I’d love to know.