{"id":13752,"date":"2025-11-15T20:03:51","date_gmt":"2025-11-16T02:03:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/?p=13752"},"modified":"2025-11-15T20:03:53","modified_gmt":"2025-11-16T02:03:53","slug":"how-to-be-ambitious-about-living-a-quiet-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2025\/11\/how-to-be-ambitious-about-living-a-quiet-life\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Be Ambitious About Living a Quiet Life"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cMake it your ambition to live a quiet life,\u201d Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 4:11 (NIV). That\u2019s an unusual phrase, isn\u2019t it? To be ambitious about living quietly? In my early church experiences, we\u2019d sometimes have very energetic revival services when the preacher would command the people in the altar to \u201cpress into\u201d what God was doing one moment and \u201clet go\u201d the next. I\u2019m always confused\u2014am I pressing in, or am I letting go? Am I trying harder or trusting the process?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leon Morris, in his book, The First and Second Epistles to the Thessalonians, <\/em>rev. ed., who similarly wrestles with Paul\u2019s riddle, frames the paradox in two striking ways:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBe ambitious to be unambitious.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSeek strenuously to be still.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Herein lies a secret to a simple life, a good life grounded in rich and fertile soil.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Reidar Aasgaard, in his book, My Beloved Brothers and Sisters!<\/em>, said that among the moral teachers in Paul\u2019s time, the call to live quietly was generally a call for \u201cliving a peaceful, harmonious life, or for the inner tranquility of the individual.\u201d So in encouraging his readers to be ambitious about quiet living, Paul was calling each of them to pursue a target far different from the culture\u2019s goals and aspirations: to appear different from the chaos around them, to rigorously focus on pursuing a life immersed in reflection and contemplation. A life that seasoned the culture with simple, Christ-centered compassion. A life in which every action and motive was reframed and reshaped, from their talk to their treatment of others.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Philokalia: The Complete Text<\/em>, an ancient text on Christian living, Evagrios the Solitary teaches: \u201cMake stillness your criteria for testing the value of everything, and choose always what contributes to it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This assertion to let stillness test the value of everything can lead to some powerful personal reflection:<\/p>\n\n\n\n