Today’s reading is 1 Thessalonians 1:1-2:20.

Today, Paul said I need to be like a nursing mother. In I Thessalonians 2:7-8, Paul said, “But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.”

I am much more attuned to 1 Thessalonians 2:11-12, “For you know how, like a father with his children, we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God…” I think I get the being like a father who coaches, teaches, tells and even directs. But being like a nursing mother, gentle, affectionate, sharing not only the gospel but sharing myself? That is not something I’m really up on. That sounds kind of girly.

I don’t have a tendency to want to share myself with others. I want to tell them what to do and send them on their way. But watch a mother with her nursing child. It is a slice out of the day. It is a burden. It is tiring. Yet, for love of the child a mother nurses her infant, accepting the burden, the sacrifice, the labor, giving herself to the child, not just giving direction and then shooing away.

If I will walk in the footsteps of Paul as a teacher, I will learn that my job is not merely that of the father, exhorting and directing, but also that of the mother, caring, nurturing, sacrificing, sharing.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

P.S. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is 1 Thessalonians 1:1-2:19.

Yesterday I learned about being willing to test my own heart to see if I’m in the faith. Today, I think it is interesting that Paul wrote, “For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity of any attempt to deceive, but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts” (1 Thessalonians 2:3-4).

I’m certainly no Greek scholar and I rarely try to make any arguments or points from the original language for that matter, because I think it is so easy to make mistakes in that way. However, I can’t help but notice the parallels between this verse and the one that stood out to me yesterday. In 2 Corinthians 3:5, the statement was to test ourselves to see if we are in the faith. In this one, Paul says God tested them and found them trustworthy. The words for test are similar. The words for “the faith” and “entrusted” are similar. I’m not saying these verse go together. I’m really just explaining why the verse jumped out at me today.

Yesterday, I learned I should be willing to test myself. This one talks about God’s testing. Interestingly, the root Greek word translated “approved” and “tests” in 2 Thessalonians 2:4 is the same as the root word for the word “search” found in Psalm 139:23, “Search me, O God, and know my heart!”

Anyway, all of that is just interesting background to Paul’s point that really impacted me today.

Why do I speak? To please men or to please God? This can easily be a problem for me. Sometimes I spend more time trying to impress men than just doing the right thing with my preaching. No doubt, this can be a gray area because I also think it is important to the very best I can do in order to glorify God by honoring Him through my effort. However, when I’m truly honest, I have to say that sometimes my motivation is not, “I have to work really hard on the presentation because that shows honor to God.” Sometimes my motivation is, “I have to work really hard on this because I want people to think I’m an awesome preacher.”

Where this becomes really dangerous is when the desire to please men shifts from just trying to do an outstanding job of presentation, to actually changing God’s message because I fear people might not like it. I think it is just as wrong to preach the truth from a motivation of trying to impress men, but I commit two wrongs when my desire to impress men also causes me to change God’s message.

What does Paul remind me today? God is the one who is searching my heart. The grievous ways in my heart are defined by God’s will, not by what is pleasing to man. I need to ask Him to search my heart and remove every grievous way because I want to please Him, not in order to impress men with my spirituality or my ability.

So, I got the double whammy two days in a row. I need to be willing to test myself and I need to remember that it is God who tests me. He is working to approve me and help me grow. I need to recognize the hardships, the refining fires (however they come) are not simply meant to see if I have a bad motivation but to highlight any improper motivation and help me remove that.

My prayer, “God, please keep the refining fires coming. Left to myself, I will strive to impress and please men. Please, search my heart and see what grievous ways are there. Bring them to the top so they may be easily removed. Thank you for testing me.”

***Question: How do you thank God for His tests?

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

Today’s reading is I Thessalonians 3:1-4:18.

I Thessalonians 4:3-8 says:

For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.

Sex is a great thing. Sexuality is a natural desire. Sexual immorality is an abomination. There is no greater way to have intimacy than to commit your life totally to another person, getting to know them emotionally, mentally, spiritually and then celebrating that union physically. There is not greater cheat or destructive force than to take that great celebration and waste it on just a few moments of physical pleasure with someone to whom there is no commitment or union. Therefore, abstain from, avoid, flee sexual immorality. 

But do not stop there. It is not enough to simply say, “Well, I won’t have sex unless I’m married.” We have to know how to control our bodies or possess our own vessel as some translations say. We need to present our bodies in a way that befits holiness and honor. We must not present our bodies in a way that says, “Look at me, I’m sexual.” We must not present our bodies in a way that says, “Look at me, I’m aroused.” We must not present our bodies in a way that says, “Look at me, I want to arouse you.” We must shine forth holiness in the way we dress these bodies, in the way we walk with these bodies, in the places we go with these bodies, in the way we allow our bodies to interact with other people and their bodies. 

But do not stop there. It is not enough to simply say, “I’m going to present myself in a modest way.” We must not live in the passion of our lusts. We must work on our minds as well. We may follow the strictest of rules about bodily modesty, but if our minds are filled with lust and thoughts of sexual immorality for those around us, we are still not living in holiness. Men, we need especially think about this as we walk through the mall and the Victoria’s Secret store. We need especially think about this as we pass the magazine rack at the grocery store. We need especially think about this when we are firing up our computers and heading to the internet.

Then I notice the reasons why. First, so we won’t transgress against our brother. I think this is an interesting statement and perhaps I’m missing the point. However, since I see the issue being discussed as mostly a male problem, I think what Paul is saying is when I look at a woman to whom I’m not married to lust after her, if I present myself in a way to purposefully arouse a woman to whom I’m not married, or if I even pursue a sexual encounter with a woman to whom I’m not married, I’m not only transgressing against me and against her, I’m also transgressing against her husband or future husband.

Additionally, I should avoid these fleshly sins and attitudes because God has called me to holiness. He hasn’t called us into a special club in which we can mentally trade wives because we are all becoming spiritually intimate and vulnerable with each other in Christ. We may greet each other with hugs and even kisses, but they are to be holy hugs and kisses. They are not to be attempts to satisfy fleshly lusts. God has called us to holiness, not to cop a feel in the name of Christian greeting and relationships.

Finally, Paul says if we disregard this, we aren’t disregarding him, we aren’t merely disregarding the men and women against whom we are perpetrating our sins, we are also disregarding God. No matter how far down the path of lust, immodesty, and immorality we have traveled, we need to get back to God’s call of holiness. He will work with us if we will surrender to Him.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

P.S. What did you get out of today’s reading?

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act but a habit.”

This quote is usually attributed to Aristotle, though many have copied it. I think most of us would like to be excellent. We would like to stand head and shoulders above the rest of the crowd. We especially would like to do that in God’s presence. I Thessalonians 5:16-18 describes one of the habits of excellence we must have if we want to stand out. In fact, what we learn is if we want to stand out in the crowd, we need to stop standing and start kneeling.

Paul wrote:

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you (ESV).

When I first studied this passage, I thought the progression we were to notice is from rejoice to pray to give thanks. However, I recognized that these were merely three variations of the same action. I think the part Paul really wanted us to notice was “always” to “without ceasing” to “in all circumstances.”

1. Rejoice always.

The word translated “always” literally means “every when.” Paul is saying that our prayers of rejoicing should be done at all times. He is using hyperbole here. He did not mean literally that our holy hands must be lifted 24 hours a day. Rather, it is much like if I asked someone, “Do you like rock music?” And they said, “Absolutely, I listen to that all the time.” We do not think they mean 24 hours a day. We do not think they mean they are sneaking their mp3 players into the congregational assembly and listening. We understand this figure of speech. They simply mean they listen to it when they can. They listen in the morning, afternoon and evening. They listen to it whether they are happy or sad, whether things are good or bad. This is how we should rejoice–at every when. We do not check our daily rejoicing off the list to make sure we get it in. We rejoice all the time; morning, noon and evening; good times and bad; happy or sad; up or down.

2. Pray without ceasing.

Having a prayer habit of excellence not only means we pray all the time. It means we never stop praying all the time. We don’t let the circumstances of life get in the way of it. We don’t just pray all the time for a week or two because of a sermon. We do it all the time without stopping. Think about Daniel when it was made illegal to pray. He kept up his prayer habit. 

3. Give thanks in all circumstances.

If we want a prayer habit of excellence, we need to make prayer a part of every aspect of our lives. Prayer should be part of our work lives, our school lives, our family lives, our neighbor lives, our hobbies, our recreation, everything. Prayer is not just for “church.” Prayer is for life. It is for every aspect of life. We need to begin everything we do with prayer. We need to end everything we do with prayer. We need to sustain everything we do with prayer.

If we rejoice always, pray without ceasing and give thanks in all circumstances, then we will develop a prayer habit of excellence and we will stand out because we have knelt down.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

There were a couple of things in today’s reading that stood out, but how can I bypass these chapters without following the command at the end of them to comfort and encourage you with these words:

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to me the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

I Thessalonians 4:13-17 (ESV)

There are two things that comfort me in this passage. 

1. If we live by faith, we can die by faith.

We do not have to face death with fear. We believe Jesus died and was resurrected, we know we will be as well. We know death is not an end, but merely a transition. We are not abandoned by Jesus when we die. Rather, we go to be with Him and will always be with him. What a comfort.

2. There is more than this life.

Some days life is just frustrating. I wonder why anyone would remotely want to keep on dealing with it. The reason…there is more to life than this life. There is something worth striving for when this life is over. I don’t want to give up because a victory is coming and I want to be on the winning side when it happens. 

Be comforted. Life is tough, but the goal waiting for us is worth everything we go through. Death may be hard, but for us it is a victory.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

I know this may seem odd, but the thing that stood out most to me in today’s reading was the little statement in I Thessalonians 2:18: “Because we wanted to come to you–I, Paul, again and again–but Satan hindered us” (ESV)

No doubt, it is nigh impossible in this earthly and finite realm to know when God is acting and when Satan is acting. However, this passage demonstrates that not every circumstance in our lives should be laid solely at God’s feet. Yes, I understand God could change things and everything that happens God allowed. I also understand that God can use everything that happened. 

However, Paul said he had wanted to come to Thessalonica again and again, but Satan hindered him. In our attempts to give God the glory, we often lay at His feet things that aren’t necessarily His direct doing. When something doesn’t go the way we plan, we often try to comfort ourselves by saying things like, “I don’t know why God did that, but He knows best.” I appreciate that attitude, but at the same time, it may well have been Satan trying to keep something from happening. 

Why does this matter at all? I think this demonstrates a flaw in the modern thinking that seems to suggest every day occurrences are close to a matter of revelation. We are looking for signs from God in what happens every day. When Paul was unable to go to Thessalonica, he knew it was not a sign from God, it was a hindrance from Satan.

Now, apart from miraculous revelation, there is no way of knowing which is which. We can’t hardly know when God was at work or Satan. Let us simply proceed with caution. Give thanks to God for the good things that happen. Rely on God through the bad things. Look at all things and strive to grow no matter what happens. But be careful trying to interpret what happens in your life as signs from God to direct you. It may well be a hindrance of Satan. Who knows, it may be a hindrance of Satan that God uses for good (cf. II Corinthians 12:7). 

The conclusion of the matter is that God is has revealed His will for us in His word. He is not expecting us to interpret the circumstances of life to figure out His will for us. Whether His providence leads us in a certain way or Satan’s hindrance, God wants us to obey His will from His word no matter what is happening to us. Let’s quit looking for signs hidden in life and start relying on His message revealed in the Word.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

P.S. What caught your eye, stood out to you or moved you in today’s reading?