One of the great Pauline principles we have to be reminded of on a regular basis is the principle called “minding your own business.” As soon as we move away from a realm of life that we are not directly responsible for (as in, our own job, our own family, our own sanctification), and we attempt to engage in a little voluntary help with the sanctification of others, we are activating many more things than simply a desire to lend a hand.
There are issues of authority and responsibility, there are issues of our own craft competence (or lack therefore), there is the example we set for other volunteers who now want to throw in their helpful suggestions, and so on. But face facts—a group of fifteen volunteer helping helper types couldn’t successfully organize a two-car funeral.
“What is that to you?” is a profound biblical principle. “Each servant answers to his own master” is another expression of the same principle. Meddling in the affairs of others without scriptural warrant is not just wrong on the face of it, but it also is the reason why many Christians fail to meddle in their own affairs. When we take up something we shouldn’t, it is often because we want to be occupied so that we don’t have to take up something we should.
Objections crowd into our minds. Shouldn’t we be loving each other? Yes, of course, the way the Bible says to. As C.S. Lewis once memorably put it, don’t let your loved ones be recognizable by their hunted expression. So here is the Pauline principle again—tend to your own knitting.