Live Quietly

I can always find a reason to stay loud. Someone is wrong on the internet. Someone needs my take. The feed will happily baptize that as courage.

Paul told the Thessalonians to aspire to live quietly, mind their own affairs, and work with their hands. It almost sounds embarrassing now. Like he didn't understand the moment.

I think he understood people.

Noise

The Christians I know aren't mostly falling to some textbook heresy. They're tired and overstimulated. Their minds are full of other people's emergencies, so they can't sit still long enough to hear God. I do this. I confuse being informed with being wise. I confuse being vocal with being faithful.

A quiet life isn't an empty one. It knows the names of the people in the next room. It keeps promises nobody will clap for. It does the work and goes to bed.

I don't mean you never speak. The gospel is news, and news has to be told. I mean a lot of what I have called "speaking out" was just me wanting a stage. The men in Acts weren't managing a reputation. They preached Christ and served churches.

If my Christianity needs an audience to feel real, I should be suspicious of it.

What I'm trying

Phone in another room when the Bible is open. Eat with my family. Go to church when I don't feel like it. Do the job in front of me. Love the neighbors I actually have, not the ones I can scold from a distance.

None of that will trend. I don't need it to. I need to belong to Christ, and I need to stop competing with Him for the last word.

The noise will still be there tomorrow. I don't have to match it.