January 4 | Bible in a Year: Genesis 10–12; Matthew 4

Quiet Faithfulness in Christ

Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: you should mind your own business and work with your hands. 1 Thessalonians 4:11

READ 1 Thessalonians 4:1–2, 9–12

I didn’t notice him at first.

I’d come down for breakfast at my hotel. Everything in the dining room was clean. The buffet table was filled. The refrigerator was stocked, the utensil container packed tight. Everything was perfect.

Then I saw him. An unassuming man refilled this, wiped that. He didn’t draw attention to himself. But the longer I sat, the more I was amazed. The man was working very fast, noticing everything and refilling everything before anyone might need something. As a food service veteran, I noticed his constant attention to detail. Everything was perfect because this man was working faithfully—even if few noticed.

Watching this man work so meticulously, I recalled Paul’s words to the Thessalonians: “Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands . . . so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders” (1 Thessalonians 4:11–12). Paul understood how a faithful worker might win others’ respect—offering a quiet testimony to how the gospel can infuse even seemingly small acts of service for others with dignity and purpose.

I don’t know if the man I saw that day was a believer in Jesus. But I’m grateful his quiet diligence reminded me to rely on God to live out a quiet faithfulness that reflects His faithful ways.

By Adam Holz

How should your faith affect the way you work? In what ways is being a faithful worker a powerful testimony?

Father, help me to remember that there are no small jobs in Your kingdom and to faithfully serve You each day with a sense of Your nearness.

SCRIPTURE INSIGHT

Waiting for the second coming of Jesus is a consistent theme in Paul’s letters to the Thessalonians (see 1 Thessalonians 1:10; 2:19; 3:13; 4:13-17; 5:1-11; 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10; 2:1-12). The subject of work is also prominent (see 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12; 5:14; 2 Thessalonians 3:6-12). Paul’s labour for the gospel resulted in the establishing of the church, but he also laboured with his hands: “We worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you” ( 1 Thessalonians 2:9). “Waiting” and “working” should characterize believers in Jesus until He returns.