Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more.
1 Thessalonians 4:1
The heading in my Bible for the fourth chapter of Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians is “A Life Pleasing to God.” What does such a life look like?
Earlier today I was reading an excerpt from A.W. Tozer’s thoughts on Discipleship where he discussed the problem of literalism in the church. He makes the point that we can be obsessed with following the “letter of the law” without comprehending the deeper implications of God’s word. We may tithe, read our Bible, and faithfully attend church without fully surrendering to the LORD in every aspect of our lives.
“The people of my parent’s generation were generally honest, chaste, sober, and thrifty. They were committed to those values, but they were not necessarily committed to God. Many of them were outstanding moralists and even church people, but they were not committed to God.”
– Jerry Bridges, The Disciplines of Grace.
There shouldn’t be any kind of disconnect from who we are on Sunday morning compared to the person we are on Monday morning at work in the marketplace.
In the passage above, Paul commends the Thessalonians for their commitment to put what they’ve learned into practice as they “walk and to please God.”
And then notice Paul’s challenge to “do so more and more.”
0 Comments