Medical science has tried to teach us for years about the connection between stress – especially the self-induced variety – and health. Those who seem to meddle in affairs of which they have no business often experience heart disease, blood pressure disorder, anxiety, gastrointestinal problems, and/or neurological complications. Go figure. Their minds will not allow their bodies to fully rest.

The Bible has this to say about reducing our stress level:

Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you. – 1 Thessalonians 4:11

Three very simple practices help reduce stress in our lives, or at least free us from concerns that are not ours to own. First, lead a quiet life. Paul is not referring to verbal quietness, but instead the absence of non-verbal “noise” in our lives. In today’s lingo we could paraphrase him by saying, “Chill Out!” Some people seem to thrive on strife; they look for it and if they cannot find it, they produce it. If your life is like mine, you have enough on your plate without taking on extra-curricular issues. I have a saying I try to use to help me not get my plate too full: “It’s not mine to own.”

A second helpful practice is to mind our own business. I am learning to divide things into three categories: (1) things I cannot control, (2) things I can control but shouldn’t, and (3) things I need to control. We do ourselves harm when we concern ourselves with things that God did not assign to us. Nosey. That’s what the old folks used to call it. I have observed that people who put their nose where it doesn’t belong usually go around with said nose out of joint quite a bit.

Then finally we can unburden ourselves when we work with our hands. A little contextual background is helpful here. In the first century Greek culture to which Paul wrote, only slaves did manual labor. Greeks considered it beneath their dignity to do “grunt” work and hired people to do it for them. Paul’s encouragement then was for folks to humble themselves and actively involve themselves in serving others. When we serve others rather than meddle in their business we gain a more healthy perspective on them . . . and ourselves.

One final note: Paul encourages us to “make it your ambition” to put these practices into play in our lives. Maybe this little reminder will help you:

“Don’t sweat the petty stuff . . . and don’t pet the sweaty stuff!”