Striving for a Simple, Quiet Life
If you think that by doing nothing a simple and quiet life will come to you, think again.
There is a very good reason Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 4:11 to make it your AMBITION to lead a quiet life. Ambition isn’t the first word I would’ve used to describe the pursuit of a quiet life. When I think ambition I think Wall Street and high powered careers. I don’t think about carefully crafted pour over coffees consumed peacefully in the company of my dog and pet betta. Yet the latter has proven more elusive.
Experience has taught me that simple and quiet are often only accessible through the path of most resistance.
When I made the decision to walk away from my former life and turn towards a new, quiet & simple life in Christ, the gates of hell seemingly opened up. Everything turned upside down and stayed that way for awhile. Therefore don’t be surprised if members of your own household, who may seem to share similar values today, suddenly decide to parallelly pursue complicated & loud living - complete with daily strife and fighting too!
You will encounter many facets of resistance, within and outside of yourself, when in hot pursuit of simplicity, quiet, and peace. Pursuing simple and quiet almost certainly guarantees the (at least temporary) amplification of loud and complicated aspects of your life. At least until you can beat those devils back that is, and that might take prayer and fasting - but more on that later.
In sum, I say this to prepare you - the way towards a simple quiet life is not for the fearful or weak minded. A quiet life is never going to be handed to you, you will have to strive for it. You will have to cut things off and set boundaries. You will have to carefully think about what and whom you allow into your life. You will have to reevaluate how you live. You will have to ultimately count the cost.
A quiet life won’t get you many (if any) worldly accolades, but when you are immersed in the peace that surpasses all understanding (which can only come from Christ) and you follow the Holy Spirit’s wisdom down a different, more narrow path than that which the masses enthrong, the rewards are heavenly (pun intended).