When was the last time you experienced quiet? For most of us, our daily lives are anything but quiet. We live in a world of non-stop noise, information, entertainment, and distraction. We move at breakneck speeds from one thing to the next, seldom allowing a moment for stillness. And when those rare moments come, Alexa and Siri are always there, waiting for your command and ready to fill the silence. 

Against the backdrop of our noisy lives, though, there’s a surprising exhortation scattered across several of the New Testament epistles: “Live a quiet life.” Paul urges Timothy to pray for all people (everyone . . . including kings and those in high positions) to “lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way” (1 Tim. 2:2). Peter calls wives to “the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit,” calling it precious in God’s sight and even claiming its power to win an unbelieving husband without a word (1 Pet. 3:1-4). 

My favorite example of this exhortation is 1 Thessalonians 4, where Paul calls his brothers and sisters in the Thessalonian church to “aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands.” The words, “live a quiet life and work with your hands” are a framed reminder hanging in my living room, reminding me each morning of the simple call for every believer.

The word “quiet” is surprising because it’s so counter-cultural. But are these passages in Scripture simply telling us to turn down the noise? Is the application to drive in silence the next time we find ourselves in the car alone? While that might not be a bad idea, the commands in these passages go deeper. They address our spirits, applying to all of life. The command isn’t, “Aspire for ten minutes of silence and solitude,” but “Aspire to live quietly.” “Lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.”

We’re called to quietness, not just in moments, but in our dispositions and our manner of living. If the extroverts among us are starting to sweat, take a look at the surrounding descriptions in 1 Timothy 2:2—peaceful, godly, and dignified. These words aren’t personality descriptions; they’re describing the way we all are to conduct ourselves and live our lives.

A peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified, is the call for every believer. It’s the call for the stay-at-home mom whose work is hidden and unseen, and it’s the same call for the influencer with sky-rocketing follower counts. But how on earth can the same command be given to both those people? What is the common shape of a quiet life?

The larger context of 1 Thessalonians 4 helps to draw the outline of a quiet life. It shows us four distinguishing marks: a quiet life is marked by holiness, brotherly love, faithful attention, and diligent work.

A Quiet Life is Marked by Holiness

In the first verses of 1 Thessalonians 4, Paul earnestly urges the Thessalonians to walk in holiness, abstaining from sexual immorality and practicing self-control. He reminds them that the will of God is their sanctification and that God has called them to holiness, not impurity. This pursuit of holiness isn’t something that anyone is to run after in their own strength; it’s a pursuit that’s enabled by the Spirit whom God has given, who is daily working in us to make us more like Jesus.

A Quiet Life is Marked by Brotherly Love

Paul goes on to commend the Thessalonians for their brotherly love. This does away with any misconception we might have that a quiet life is the life of a hermit, cut off from society, friendship, and community. No, Paul says that the Thessalonians have been “taught by God to love one another.” The love of these brothers and sisters for one another is already evident, but Paul urges them to “do this more and more.” Brotherly love isn’t a box that we check; we’re always to be on the lookout for ways to grow in our love for one another.

A Quiet Life is Marked by Faithful Attention

In verse 11, Paul instructs the Thessalonians to “mind your own affairs.” I can’t read this line without hearing my grandmother’s voice, telling me, “Mind your own beeswax!” (Why beeswax? I still don’t know!) To some, Paul’s command probably sounded similar to my grandmother’s, as we see later in 2 Thessalonians 3:11 that he directly addresses “busybodies” within the church. Jesus’ words to Peter in John 21:22 also come to mind; as Peter looks at John and says, “What about this man?” Jesus replies, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!”

We have each been placed in particular places at a particular time, and have been surrounded by particular people. Those places—right where our feet are—are to have our faithful attention. Rather than looking around at the details of our neighbors’ or our brothers’ or sisters’ lives, we’re called to faithfully attend to our own affairs as we follow Jesus.

A Quiet Life is Marked by Diligent Work

Finally, in verse 11, Paul tells the believers, “work with your hands.” Once again, Paul is speaking to specific people who are prone to idleness (1 Thess. 5:14), but his words are relevant to each of us. Way back in Genesis 1-2, God created the man and woman and placed them in the Garden of Eden. He blessed them and charged them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Gen. 1:28). Work was God’s good design, part of his order before sin entered the world. As we live quiet lives, we are to work diligently, mirroring our Creator as we cultivate and create, always seeking to build up rather than tearing down.

Lives that are marked by holiness, brotherly love, faithful attention, and diligent work are peaceful, quiet, godly, and dignified lives. They are “good, and pleasing in the sight of God” (1 Tim. 2:3). The conduct that Paul describes in is the will of God, the calling of God, and what God has instructed). Our quiet lives are lived first and foremost in the sight of God. But the same passages that call us to quiet lives also remind us of a second audience.

• 1 Timothy 2:3-4:  “This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
• 1 Peter 3:1-2: “Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, when they see your respectful and pure conduct.”
• 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12: “[A]spire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.”

Friends, our peaceful and quiet lives are a powerful witness to a world that is restless, never still, and never quiet. The quiet conduct of our lives is the overflow of a soul that has been “calmed and quieted” (Ps. 131:2). In the early church and in Frisco today, quiet lives mark Christians as different. They set us apart. They identify us as “a people for [God’s] own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Pet. 2:9). 

Our quiet lives aren’t silent or passive—they are a resounding witness to a restless world. Brothers and sisters, may we lead peaceful, quiet lives that set us apart from our neighbors. May our lives lead those around us to ask a reason for the hope that is within us (1 Pet. 3:15), and may we eagerly proclaim the excellencies of the One who has called us into his marvelous light.