To Encourage You

1 Thessalonians 4:9-11 “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. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more, and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs . . . “

It’s so interesting to observe how Paul talks about love in the verses above.  We learn that although love carries with it the concept of being involved in other peoples’ lives in positive and helpful ways, there are also ways love is shown by not being involved in another person’s life. Specifically, Paul talks about aspiring, i.e., making every effort, to “live quietly and to mind (our) own affairs.”  This suggests that this very act of “minding our own business,” if you will, takes some real effort. 

Our natural tendency is to be nosy, and not just to be nosy, but to carry that nosiness to the level of sharing our “concerns” about others with someone else when, perhaps, we should not.  That kind of “concern,” that eagerness to let others know about our “friends” problem(s), is to be strongly resisted by a person who would love his or her neighbor as themselves.  While one aspect of loving our neighbor is to reach out to them as we learn about their needs, it is another thing to be so “concerned” that we live as “busybodies” or gossips, eager to know every juicy detail of a thing and then to be quick to share those details with others to whom it would be better to leave in the dark. 

You see, “love is patient” and “love is kind” (1 Corinthians 13).  It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. It wants what is best for the other person and will act in a way that always has the best possible thing for the person that is the object of that love.  That may mean keeping quiet. Elsewhere in Scripture we are reminded that “When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent” (Proverbs 10:19), and “Whoever belittles his neighbor lacks sense, but a man of understanding remains silent” (Proverbs 11:12); just two of the many places where we are told, in so many words, that “silence is golden” and so often part and parcel of “the golden rule.”