Have you ever thought of the Holy Bible as a way to organize your work and resources?

If you haven’t it is a pretty neat trick that most people do not realize until they further study – SLOWLY – the message that God has sent to us via the Holy Scriptures.

Let us consider the our passage for today,

1Th 4:11  And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you;

1Th 4:12  That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing.

— First Thessalonians 4: 11-12

Remember when your mom or dad told you to, “Be quiet and mind your business.”? Well that is the essence of the first part of the first verse – be quiet. What is the wisdom in that? If you speak up, you may add somebody else’s problems on your list of things to worry about, thereby decreasing the amount of time you have to do the things that are important to you and your family.

Lesson 1: The next time you are thinking of speaking up in a situation, take a few more seconds to think about what you’re doing. Sometimes being quiet is the better part of valour.  By being quiet, you may continue to tend to your own business – which is what is commanded of you.

Now, let us analyze verse 12, “That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without…”

When you work your own business and achieve your own results, you have earned an honest days work by being a good steward of whatever resources God has given you.  And neatly tucked into this message is to help the poor, which is a strongly recurring theme and commandment in Christianity. Furthermore, just to make sure that a main tenant of working is not forgotten by the reader, you obviously want to do honest work such that you lack nothing.

But why does verse 12 contain help the poor, and the message for a person to lack nothing? Because the poor have nothing to give back to you in exchange for your giving, their prayer and blessing upon you is their intervention to God on your behalf.

Lesson 2: In a nutshell, keep your head down, work hard, help those who need help, and you shall not lack anything.

This sounds like sage wisdom to me.