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Friday, January 25, 2019

Living to Please God

1 Thessalonians 4:1-7

From the sound of things, the Thessalonians were excellent students.  They paid attention and followed instructions.  They were a shining example of living out their faith.  In Chapter 1 Paul writes, “And so you became a model to all the believers” (v. 7).
Paul gives them a “gold star,” but more than once encourages them to do “more and more.”  He doesn’t want them to be satisfied, but to keep striving for greater holiness.
We too are called to “do more” – to keep reading Scripture and learning his Word - to keep praying and asking for guidance – to keep living a holy life.  We’re never going to have faith all figured out.  There’s always more to learn and ways to grow, but we certainly can serve as examples to others along the way.
Don’t we all need role models to show us how to stand firm in the Lord?  To be encouragers of the faith?
Thank goodness for the Thessalonians.  Not everyone who heard the message, lived it out the way they did.  If you go slightly beyond today’s passage to verse 12, Paul says, “so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders.”
It’s in our everyday living when we truly show outsiders what it means to be a disciple of Christ.  It’s not Sunday worship alone that gets it done.  It’s living out the message to love each other day by day. When Christ becomes a habit, a part of your daily routine and people can see it in the smallest of actions, then you are truly living to please God.

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