I originally published a version of this post in December 2024.
The recent Amazon Web Services outage, which seemed to take down half the internet, brought it to mind.
I clearly remember the first time I saw an Amish man pull a credit card out of his wallet. My wife and I had recently moved to a small Rocky Mountain town to help with a church plant. I’d taken a job at a hardware store. Its clientele included American Indians, ranchers, and well-to-do vacationers, as well as agrarian traditionalists of several Christian denominations.
In hindsight, I was naive to be surprised by this man’s use of a Visa. The Amish are not opposed to modern technology. They’re just slow to adopt it and very selective. They also have a reputation for financial acuity. The card Mr. Yoder produced was sleek and steely-colored. It whispered of status and impressive kickbacks.
I share that story to set the stage for one of those Bible quotes that seems hopelessly impractical:
Aspire 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.
1 Thessalonians 4:11-12
If these verses merely mean that we believers should think of ourselves as ordinary, hardworking folk, we’re quite fine with that. Conveniently, it’s how we like to see ourselves. But as a thought experiment, consider what life could look like if you applied these verses at face value. An Amish carpenter or a Christian auto mechanic might be able to nod knowingly and carry on. But what about those of us with desk jobs and smartphones?
Live quietly? That’s fine, of course, if it’s the sort of thing you’re into. Mind your own affairs? Social media’s very appeal is instant access to the neuroses and gossip of complete strangers. When it comes to these verses from 1 Thessalonians, most of us will be ready with our caveats and qualifications before we even get to the instruction to “work with [our] hands.”
Which could be the reason we miss the why tucked at the end.
Be dependent on no one.
This line is perplexing. Every creature that breathes, after all, depends on God. And the Bible urges Christians to rely on one another for everything from prayer, to encouragement, to meal trains when new babies arrive. So why is dependence, here, something to avoid?
If you need help reading the Bible every day, I have a plan that will ease you into it. Today’s reading is Mark chapter 1, so it’s a great day to dive in.
To understand this, it helps to put ourselves in the shoes of ancient Thessalonian Christians. This church faced persecution. To depend on outsiders would have been to rely on some of the very people who wanted to snuff the church out. By working with their hands, believers ensured they could meet their own basic needs. A church that can provide itself with food, clothing, and housing is less likely to fold under searing pressure.
Let’s take a flying leap back to our modern day. We may not face the kind of straightforward threats that the Thessalonians did. Yet we’re also economically dependent on many people who oppose us. And we’re completely reliant on a global labyrinth of trade and technology that seems creakier by the year.
The food we eat today usually travels over a thousand miles before reaching our plates. The trucks that transport it rely on parts made in China and India. The logistics systems that guide it to grocery stores need computer chips from Taiwan. And, as we learned earlier this week, even when you have all the hardware, a software failure can still wreak havoc.
Which brings me back to Mr. Yoder, the Amish gentleman with the platinum-level perks. If our modern economy went belly up, he’d face some sacrifices too. But his tight-knit agricultural community would be far better equipped to carry on than most of us.
In our instant-gratification society, most people think little of long-term preparedness. Some, as the Amish know all too well, ridicule it. During our time living near “the Plain People,” my wife and I saw drivers speed up aggressively while passing horse-drawn buggies. Occasionally people threw garbage, and the ladies were often subjected to catcalls. I’ll give Weird Al the benefit of the doubt and call “Amish Paradise” good-natured. But the reason the parody draws laughs is because taking such a traditional lifestyle seriously calls our own ways into question.
I’m hardly the first to wonder if the Amish might be vindicated someday. But such a prospect raises grim possibilities for modern society. Some Christians will argue that those who have an eternal home shouldn’t worry about such temporary concerns. But motivation for self-reliance doesn’t have to be fear. It can also stem from a desire to be more resilient. Like the Thessalonian church, our aim could be to limit our dependence on the ungodly.
Working with your hands also offers immediate benefits. It’s an alternative to our tech-saturated ways that have done extraordinary harm, especially to young people. At this point, the challenge may not be persuading people that our gadgets are causing our souls to wither. Rather, it could be figuring out what can practically be done, now that our lives are so intertwined with our smartphones.
Any large-scale shift of this kind would be a work of God. Even a partial tech exit can take years of prayer and persistent effort. Thankfully, the Lord meets us right where we are. He invites us to re-embrace reality, one hands-on task at a time. Gardening, woodworking, and even changing the oil in your car are activities that bring us back to the here-and-now. You may not be ready to launch into full-on homesteading, but there are surely physical needs around your home, or your neighbor’s.
I’ve posted before about psalm singing and prayer. These and other faithful acts pair wonderfully with physical work. For those of us accustomed to cubicle jobs and “knowledge work,” vocational life involves continuously receiving and processing information. We can forget how strange this is, how unusual it is historically. Conversely, physical work can quiet our minds, readying them to be filled with prayer. This opportunity, although novel to many of us, was the norm for generations.
What I call “the long renewal” boils down to re-engaging God’s Word and God’s world. It’s the act of choosing reality over unreality. And then allowing the Lord, the ultimate Reality, to work out His change in us, however long it takes.
It’s worth the patient effort, because the alternative to renewal is regression. An Amish proverb makes this very point (and seems a fitting place to end).
Unless there is within us that which is above us, we shall soon yield to that which is about us.
Store Up the Word In Your Heart
I admit I got sidetracked there for a couple weeks. But I promise I didn’t forget about memorizing the opening verses of John. See if you can get through verse 5 this week.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
John 1:1–5
Over time, you’ll discover that much of the work of memorizing Scripture is maintaining what you already know. As you stretch yourself to learn more, earlier verses often become shaky. This is completely normal. Don’t worry if it sometimes feels like you recall less than you did the week before. As pastor and author Donald Whitney writes, “The goal is not to see how many verses we can memorize; the goal is godliness. The goal is to memorize the Word of God so that it can transform our hearts and lives.”
I’m praying this will be a week of God-given transformation for you.
Until next time!