1 Thessalonians 4:9-11 But as touching brotherly love you need not that I write to you: for you yourselves are taught of God to love one another.… Life is a business. Every man has a mission, a purpose to work out, for which he has been sent into the world. Man is organized for activity, and the circumstances in which he is placed necessitate work. The business of life is to be — I. PERSONAL: "Your own." By this is not meant that we are to be regardless of others in our labour, and aim only at self-gratification and aggrandisement; but that we have a sphere of labour entirely our own, which we are bound to fill. 1. That this is the case is clear from — (1) The peculiarity of each man's external circumstances. No man has exactly the same surroundings as another. He has relations all his own. (2) The peculiarity of each man's personal needs. Every man has some exigencies special to himself. (3) The peculiarity of each man's individual aptitudes. Every man has not only an opportunity but a power for doing something which no other man can do so well. (4) The peculiarity of each man's obligations. Man has duties to perform in relation to himself, his race, his God, which no one in the universe can discharge for him. His obligations are intransferable.Attending to his own business a man — (1) Wilt not be an officious meddler in the affairs of others. His hands will be so full of work in his own sphere that he will have neither the inclination nor the opportunity to interfere in the concerns of others; (2) He will most effectively serve the interests of others. By doing rightly the work of his own sphere, he will exert the most salutary influence around him. "No man liveth unto himself." II. QUIET. "Quiet and business" are often separated. There is a business in which there is no quiet — noisy, fussy, all rattle and din. There is a quiet to which there is no business — lazy inactivity. The two must go together in the true work of life. Quiet work is the true work. 1. It is the strongest work. In quiet labour there is the plan and purpose of soul. There is concentrated force. It is not mere limb force, but life force. 2. It is the happiest work. In the work of bustle, excitement, and hurry there is no happiness. But in quiet labour there is the harmonious play of all the faculties. 3. It is the divinest work. With what sublime quiet God works! His energy operates in the universe as noiseless as the sunbeam. He is the God of peace. How quietly Christ worked: "He shall not cry," etc. It is not the bustling tradesmen, merchant, politician, preacher, that does the strongest, happiest, divinest work. It is the man of quiet, resolute, unostentatious energy. Quiet work is not slow work. Stars are silent, yet how swiftly they speed! III. INTELLIGENT. "That ye study." Quiet work requires study. Noisy work is the result of caprice. Quiet work is the result of study. The more mind thrown into any work the less noise. The most noisy preacher has the least mind. Study gives the worker — (1) A clear and definite object. This prevents the excitement contingent on doubt and uncertainty. (2) Adapts the means. It constructs a machinery of means adapted to reach the end. A machinery whose joints and wheels are so lubricated by thought that it moves on without creak or noise. Conclusion: Who amongst us is doing this quiet work? (D. Thomas, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another. |
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