This isn't the way I usually think of ambition. If I'm feeling ambitious to live for God, at all, I want to do BIG things: Witness to every person at school. Build an orphanage with my bare hands. Memorize the New Testament . . . in Greek.

But Paul wants us to think of a long-term strategy to help unbelievers to notice Christ in the way we live every day -- not just in the BIG things we do to "change the world."

Lead a well-rested life (not a silent one). Pay more attention to how you're living than how everyone else is living. Get a job and do good work so you can be a giver and not a taker.

Doing the opposite may lead people to think following Jesus leaves us exhausted, judgmental, lazy, foolish, and broke.

Think: What's your plan for your life? Will it help you to lead a restful, wise, and working life that will be respectable to those who don't know Jesus?

Pray: Ask God to help you to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your hands in a way that earns Him the respect of outsiders

Do: Make a quick list of 3-4 Christians you respect. Notice how these qualities do (or don't) fit into their lives.