Love and Don’t Meddle

1 Thessalonians 4:9-12 (ESV)

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, [10] 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, [11] and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, [12] so that you may live properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one. 

This portion of scripture asks us to do things, to love one another and to mind your own business. We are told to do this so that we may live properly before those who don’t know Christ and that we are not a burden.

This seems simple and straightforward, but think about some major criticisms of Christians. If we don’t love one another, even through the tough times – we don’t show Christ, and we are no different than those without Christ. If we are “busybodies” and “gossips” how do we show Christ in our lives? If we have the ability to work and become a dependant on society – how do we show Christ in our lives? We are showing that we like a free ride.

Be separate! Be a new creature in Christ! Don’t be like everyone else in society, because you are not like everyone else. God has called you to be holy. It is only through Him that we can be holy, but we still need to choose to obey Him. And the obedience that we called to in this scripture is to love and not to meddle.