MIND YOUR OWN BEE'S WAX! -- Devotional for February 26, from "Good Seeds"

We hear that some of you are living idle lives, refusing to work and meddling in other people's business. (2 Thessalonians 3:11)

I should think there is a fine line between properly and benevolently concerning ourselves with the cares and woes and needs of others, and sticking our oar in where it doesn’t belong. We’ve all been in the situation where we’ve been tempted to say (or have actually said) to someone guilty of the latter: “Go mind your own business, will you!” Because we are social creatures by nature, we inevitably butt heads with others when we just wanted to rub shoulders! We huddle together to make plans, and make war instead! We snuggle for warmth, only to freeze to death from the cold shoulder we encounter! We too often come to the same unfortunate conclusion about someone close to us that is often expressed by a frustrated husband: “My wife – I can’t live with her, and I can’t live without her!” These comments, so far, reflect nothing more than common knowledge, but today’s Scripture provides some uncommon wisdom on how to think and what to do about this problem: “Refusing to work, they meddle in other people’s affairs.” In other words, people with the greatest tendency to meddle in other people’s business are those who just aren’t busy enough in their own! But people don’t make other people’s business their business without a good reason. And that reason is that they haven’t an agenda of their own, so they beg, borrow or steal someone else’s. This is not as innocent or harmless as it may sound, for isn’t this the very sin of Satan? Jesus called him “the father of lies” (John 8:44). Is this specialty of his something unique and noble? No! Lying is not new knowledge but rather a perversion of truth. Then Jesus said that he was “a murderer from the beginning.” And what is murder if not the desecration and destruction of life? The “new morality” Satan inspires is nothing more than the old immorality. The devil has not one original “bone in his body” – and neither do any of his followers. But for the followers of Christ God has personal, unique and glorious plans, and He expects us to busy ourselves with them. He wants us to test our mettle in positive, constructive, creative endeavors, every moment of every day of our lives. Mettle…now there’s an interesting word! Webster defines it as “vigor and strength of spirit or temperament.” Think about it: Maybe if we were more mettlesome, we would be less meddlesome! The best examples of such character are the tireless ant and the industrious bee. Maybe if we spent more time carrying our own load, and “minding our own bee’s wax,” for the glory of God, we’d have less time to bug – and buzz around – the people around us!