Ain't None of My Business

 

Ain’t None of My Business 

I don’t remember the exact words, but a friend of mine on Facebook once said, they (people on Facebook) don’t need to know. She was referring to the ins and outs of her daily life. She was saying people don’t need to know everything she is thinking and doing (and eating).

There’s a delicate balance between connecting with others by sharing and knowing where to draw the line. On the other side of things, there’s a delicate balance between trying to help and meddling in others’ business. It’s tricky and might even be different for different people. 

I’m embarrassed to admit that I am a fixer. I’m too quick to offer suggestions for other people’s problems. As I have matured, I now see that people often know the answers to their problems and sometimes they just want someone to listen to them process those answers. Or maybe they just want to complain. It isn’t my business to fix them or correct them. It takes discernment to offer a fitting word when needed and to know when to quietly listen – to draw people to come to their own conclusions. I am particularly tempted to set people straight on social media, especially if I don’t know them or if they have angered me. But it “ain’t none of my business,” most of the time, to correct them. I’ve been trying to “pick my battles” carefully. (For example, I might speak up for the defenseless or oppressed but refuse to argue over which way toilet paper should go on the roll.) The bickering on social media has become ridiculous! 

The Apostle Paul said this, "Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. And in fact, you do love all of God's family throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do more and more, 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, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.” (I Thessalonians 4:9-12, emphasis mine) 

Boiled down: Lead a quiet life. Mind your own business. Work with your hands.

In my efforts to mind my own business, I have been trying to remember that I don’t know as much as I think I know. And my comments will likely not change anyone’s mind. I do not have to respond to every offensive remark. I can move on quietly, minding my own business, doing my work.

Other Scripture verses point to correcting a brother or sister lovingly and in humility. Which is it? Correct others or not? Yes, to both. It is my opinion that we should seek first to mind our own business, but then carefully offer correction if really necessary after much prayer and with the right motives.

What do you think? Maybe I don’t need to know.

joyce hague