A Word About Ambition

When I was a little boy, living in Granite City Illinois, for nine months out of every year, like all other kids my age, I had to go to school. And I got report cards on a regular basis to let my parents know how I was progressing. I suppose I did reasonably well academically. Not stellar. Not Albert Einstein. But I suppose you could say I did satisfactory in academics. But, not all the information on those report cards was academic in its focus. There were some sections of my report card that focused on what I guess you could call ‘personal deportment.’ One particular box that frequently got a red check, and somehow always caught my parents’ attention was a line that read: “Keeps hands to himself.” 

That check on my report card disclosed two very important bits of information about how I was doing: The first obvious truth was that Kenny Jones needed help keeping his hands to himself. But the second truth was that if I was minding someone else’s business, I obviously WASN’T minding the only business I should be concerned with: my own. My dad tried to help me with exactly what that check on my report card meant, when he would say, “Keeping your hands to yourself” is the same thing as ‘Minding your own business.’ And if you’re not keeping your hands to yourself, you’re minding somebody else’s business, and not your own.” That’s sort of a shortened version of a longer sermon he would preach, with great fire and intensity. My dad knew that if I was going to get along in this world, if I was going to be successful at almost any endeavor, I’d have to learn to keep my hands to myself. I’d need to learn to mind my own business.

He wasn’t being mean. He was trying to teach me how to move through the world without always pushing, or shoving, or reaching into other people’s lives uninvited. He wanted me to understand that real maturity isn’t just about not pushing; it’s about not needing to push and shove to get ahead.

The Apostle Paul had something to say about that too, in his letter to those young believers in Thessalonica. He told them: “Make it your ambition to live quietly, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands… so that you walk properly before outsiders, and depend on no one.”

And here’s the thing: what Paul wrote back then? It wasn’t some quiet little side note. It was a direct challenge to the noise of his day. Thessalonica was a bustling, image-conscious city. People were elbowing their way into the spotlight, trying to get noticed, jockeying for influence, and chasing public approval, just like they’re doing today? Everybody seemed to have an opinion, a platform, or a reason to insert themselves into someone else’s life. But Paul says: live quietly. Mind your own business. Work with your hands. That was radical then—and it’s still radical now. Because in a world that thrives on noise, restraint is resistance. And maybe the loudest thing you can do today… is choose to live quietly, and let God bless the work of your hands.

Ps. 90:17: “Let the favor of the Lord our God be on us;
establish for us the work of our hands;
establish the work of our hands!”