The Quiet Life

What is your desire in life? What is the one thing you want more than any other? Have you spent time listing all your wants and prioritizing them? Which of your wants are true desires and which are merely nice to haves?

We all have wants, things we would like to have or do. In my observances of people, we chase those wants far more often than we build a plan to have our hearts desire. We spend time buying or doing little things for momentary satisfaction rather than taking steps toward our true longing.

For example, I’ve seen people who spend a few dollars on little plastic toys for their children rather than saving their money and putting it toward a new bicycle. Now, I know, this is a very simple example, but I ask you to use it as a measuring stick against your other wants and desires.

We have heard the saying; you get what you pay for. This not only applies to purchasing quality products versus cheap products, but it also applies to life itself. When we choose the easy way out rather than doing what we know is right or best, we have lost.

How do we gain the strength and courage we need to stand for what is right? How do we know what is right? Our first step is to know God. We get to know Him by being quiet and spending time with Him. God has been and continues to patiently wait for each of us to spend time with Him.

As we get to know Him better, we start prioritizing His desires above our own. We start seeing the truth of the matter. We come to realize that living a quiet life is what’s best for us. What does a quiet life look life? It’s rather simple. It is refusing to chase after the world. It is refusing to allow the world to set our priorities. It is being satisfied with what God has blessed us with.

Now, it is not wrong to have worldly possessions. However, it is wrong if having worldly possessions is more important to us than God. Those worldly possessions become idols, whether we are willing to call them that or not. Living a quiet life becomes an abundant life in Christ.

I pray we all take time to review our wants and desires. I pray we set priorities, putting God at the top. I pray each one of us will choose to live a quiet life. Review your wants. Set priorities. Make God your top priority. Be satisfied with God’s blessings. Live the quiet life. Live an abundant life.

1 Thessalonians 4:10-12 And in fact, you do love all of God’s family throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more, and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.