Oct 17
Today’s Truth
Make it your goal to live a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands, just as we instructed you before (1 Thessalonians 4:11 NLT).
Friend to Friend
In my early twenties, I sat in a counselor’s office as she drew a horizontal line across her paper. Below it, she added arrows reaching toward the line but never quite touching it. She said the horizontal line represented my 
expectations of myself and the arrows my actual efforts—what I could realistically do as a human.
She explained that much of my anxiety came from the gap between what I expected of myself and reality. Until I stopped putting so much pressure on myself, I would continue to experience anxiety. I wish I could say I walked out of her office and applied her wisdom right away. But it took many more years, as well as a bout of serious burnout, before I really began to ease up on myself. That’s why, when I read chapter four of 1 Thessalonians, I’m pleasantly surprised and relieved.
Paul, Silas, and Timothy pause as they write to the new believers in Thessalonica saying, Make it your goal… What should they give the Thessalonians as a goal? Imagine for a moment how our modern world would finish that sentence: Make it your goal to be busy all the time. Make it your goal to be successful and productive. Make it your goal to look good.
Think of how some contemporary spiritual leaders might finish it too. Or how you might finish it yourself on the days when you feel not good enough: Make it your goal to help everyone. Make it your goal to change the whole world. Make it your goal to be a spiritual hero.
What Paul, Silas, and Timothy decide to say is surprising: “Make it your goal to live a quiet life” (1 Thessalonians 4:11). Our anxiety can come from many sources, including goals God never intended us to pursue. When we take these on, we continually feel like we’re falling short, which, of course, causes anxiety.
My husband Mark and I now have 1 Thessalonians 4:11 displayed in our office. We’re both entrepreneurs, and it would be easy to just keep pushing ourselves harder. We’ve found choosing a quiet life is far more challenging than choosing a busy, overwhelming one.
So what does a “quiet life” mean? It’s easy to think it’s about a lack of something. Fewer activities. Not as many commitments. Less noise. That can certainly be part of it, especially in seasons when we need restoration, but a quiet life is really about abiding in the presence of Someone. It’s about grace silencing the voices in our minds that pressure us to do, be, and have more. In their place, we begin to experience the joy, peace, and contentment only Jesus can give.
I’ll be the first to raise my hand and say this is hard for me. I’m still figuring out how to recognize when it gets loud inside. I’m practicing not proving my worth but receiving it. I’m starting to understand that I don’t need pressure to motivate me and it’s okay to not meet expectations. You too?
Then let’s keep learning together. Let’s remember how much we’re loved. Let’s make it our goal to lead a quiet life.
Let’s Pray
Dear God, You never put pressure on me. Instead, You set me free. When I start taking on goals You never intended, help me trade them for Your grace.
In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Now It’s Your Turn
What’s one way you’ve been putting pressure on yourself? What does God want to say to your heart today instead?
More from the Girlfriends
Holley Gerth’s brand new devotional, What Your Mind Needs for Anxious Moments: A 60-day Guide to Take 
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Thank you, Holley for this timely reminder of Apostle Paul’s words from 1 Thess.
You are absolutely right about expectations. WE put the pressure on ourselves, God only wants us to be an example of Jesus and not to be a disciple that lives with drama all the time.
(I have a chalk board sign on my pantry door; my new verse will be 1 Thess. 4:11, as a reminder.)
Continued Blessings in you writing ministry.
Holley,
Thank you so much for this WORD!! I am always doing too much and saying too much. What comes to mind for me is when JESUS told the sea to “peace be still”. Now I can add to that 1 Thess. 4:11 that I am to be quiet. For it is in our silence that we can hear and meet with The FATHER!
I have been gaining more of a relationship with HIM as I sit in silence and listen for HIS voice. I am not just asking for what I desire but saying yes to HIS Will.
Thank you again for this reminder that sometimes we need to stop and be quiet!
Continued blessings to you and your ministry.
Thank you so much for sharing these words! My husband and I both read this devotional and we both said “Wow” at the same time. Exactly what we needed during this season of so much uncertain in our lives. Remembering God is in control even in times like now when we feel so overwhelmed and pressured about many things when we read how we should set our goals according to Jesus puts things in such a peaceful perspective. .Thank you, again.
Holley, thank you so much for this writing. When I see your name posted, I get excited, because I so often relate, connect, and feel ministered to. I too experienced severe burnout, and boy, was that a wakeup call from the Lord. I’ve learned and am learning important lessons since then and God is continuing to do deep, thorough work within me.
Thanks so much for your kind words, Tiffany! I’m so glad my words are encouraging to you!