9 So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.
9 Wherefore we labour,
9 So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.
9 But neither exile nor homecoming is the main thing. Cheerfully pleasing God is the main thing, and that's what we aim to do, regardless of our conditions.
9 Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him.
9 So whether we are here in this body or away from this body, our goal is to please him.
11 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,
11 And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you;
11 and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you,
11 Stay calm; mind your own business; do your own job. You've heard all this from us before, but a reminder never hurts.
11 that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you,
11 Make it your goal to live a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands, just as we instructed you before.
(Read 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12)
We should notice in others what is good, to their praise, that we may engage them to abound therein more and more. All who are savingly taught of God, are taught to love one another. The teaching of the Spirit exceeds the teachings of men; and men's teaching is vain and useless, unless God teach. Those remarkable for this or any other grace, need to increase therein, as well as to persevere to the end. It is very desirable to have a calm and quiet temper, and to be of a peaceable and quiet behaviour. Satan is busy to trouble us; and we have in our hearts what disposes us to be unquiet; therefore let us study to be quiet. Those who are busy-bodies, meddling in other men's matters, have little quiet in their own minds, and cause great disturbances among their neighbours. They seldom mind the other exhortation, to be diligent in their own calling, to work with their own hands. Christianity does not take us from the work and duty of our particular callings, but teaches us to be diligent therein. People often by slothfulness reduce themselves to great straits, and are liable to many wants; while such as are diligent in their own business, earn their own bread, and have great pleasure in so doing.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on 2 Corinthians 5:9
Commentary on 2 Corinthians 5:9-15
(Read 2 Corinthians 5:9-15)
The apostle quickens himself and others to acts of duty. Well-grounded hopes of heaven will not encourage sloth and sinful security. Let all consider the judgment to come, which is called, The terror of the Lord. Knowing what terrible vengeance the Lord would execute upon the workers of iniquity, the apostle and his brethren used every argument and persuasion, to lead men to believe in the Lord Jesus, and to act as his disciples. Their zeal and diligence were for the glory of God and the good of the church. Christ's love to us will have a like effect upon us, if duly considered and rightly judged. All were lost and undone, dead and ruined, slaves to sin, having no power to deliver themselves, and must have remained thus miserable for ever, if Christ had not died. We should not make ourselves, but Christ, the end of our living and actions. A Christian's life should be devoted to Christ. Alas, how many show the worthlessness of their professed faith and love, by living to themselves and to the world!