"16Rejoice evermore. 17Pray without ceasing.18In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.19Quench not the Spirit. 20Despise not prophesyings. 21Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. 22Abstain from all appearance of evil."
There are eight things that Paul (the author of 1 Thessalonians) tells us to do. Let's take a closer look at each of them.
1. Rejoice evermore
"Always" would be another, more modern word for "evermore". So do we "Rejoice always"?? I don't think so. More often or not I am worrying about certain things that must get done or else blahblahblah will happen, which could be very serious. Or I could be thinking about a number of different things, but certainly not rejoicing.
Recently I have started keeping a "thankful" journal. Once a day I'll write in it, recording all the happy things that happened to me that day. It doesn't seem to matter whether I am sick with a cold, or crazy busy, I have always found many things to be thankful for. For some sad reason it seems that our brains are wired to focus more on the negative things in our day, instead of the positive. Going to bed looking at a list of happy things that happened to me that day helps me a lot...I feel a lot better about life. "Rejoice always" may be something that we consciously have to do, but is nonetheless important.
2. Pray without ceasing
Pray without ceasing. Do we really pray more then just at meals?? At times I wonder! Think of your very best friend for a moment. How often do you communicate with them? Once a year at Christmas?? I doubt it! You probably talk on the phone, e-mail, Facebook, text, chat, etc. etc. etc. Anyway you can communicate you will--and you love it when you can be with that person in real life.
Now think of God. Taking on the name of "Christian" means that you acknowledge Christ as your leader, and you have a personal relationship with him. That means he should be your best friend. So if God is your best friend, how often do you communicate with him?? If you could, would you be talking with him on the phone? Would he be your friend on Facebook?? Would you text him constantly?? At times I wonder. As Christians, do we claim God as our best friend yet only send him yearly Christmas cards??
We all know that we really can't talk with God on the phone, friend him on Facebook, or text him. But there is one way to contact him. It's called prayer. Do we pray to God as if he is our best friend?? Do we talk to him as much as we can??
Pray without ceasing. Talk to him as much as you can. It's the only way to have God as your very best friend.
3. In every thing give thanks
In every thing give thanks. Do we do that? In good, happy times AND the more sad, bad times do we give thanks?? We might possibly remember to give God thanks when things are going well. What about when things have gone not so well?? Amazingly, as I've watched local news coverage of people affected by the tornado, they keep saying that they are just so happy that they and their families are safe. Even if their house is gone. I have a feeling that these people have found the true secret of giving thanks. They have realized what truly matters--people, not possessions.
The picture I have included with this article is a house just a few miles from where we live. Thankfully the residents were miles away when the tornado hit. I feel like our family was unfairly treated with this whole storm system that passed through the Chattanooga area a few days ago. Our electricity flickered a little bit, but it never went off. We still have our water. Our house--indeed, our whole neighborhood--stands now like a tornado was never in the area. We still have everything--even our lives--when some people, just a few measly miles down the road--have nothing. Literally. The family who owned the house in the above picture were Christians, doing what God wanted them to do. They were actually missionaries overseas for quite a while. And their house got destroyed. We know many other people in the area who tell the same sad story. Some things I just do not understand.
4. Quench not the Spirit
This is a very important command, because unlike the previous three, this one is not reversible. You can learn to rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing, or in every thing give thanks. But quench not the spirit? If you stop it up, it's a one-way road to destruction. Let me expound on this subject.
The spirit that is being referred to here is God's Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the still, small voice whispering in your ear, prompting you to smile to that guy on the elevator. To give your co-worker a smile. The Holy Spirit is the one advising you to do nice things to people.
Quench not the Spirit. God is fair and just. If you don't want him or his Holy Spirit, he won't force it on you. If you decide against doing whatever nice thing the Holy Spirit prompts you to do too many times, the urgings will starting getting smaller, more infrequent. Finally the still, small voice will stop pleading with you altogether. The reason I called quenching the Spirit a one-way process is that once you have grieved the Spirit away, it will not come back. Don't quench the Spirit. Obey its' urgings to do good, and it will stay with you.
5. Despise not prophesyings
This is a harder command to write about. Basically, I think it is telling us to do exactly what it says: don't despise prophecy! If it truly comes from God (and you can be sure that it comes from God if it's in the Bible), the prophecy will come true. Often prophecies are about what will happen in the future. Don't you want to know for sure what's going to happen? Whatever God says will happen, you can be sure that it will happen. Despise not prophesyings. Don't brush them aside. They have important information that you want to know!
6. Prove all things
Do you see a new idea? Run across a new teaching? Don't know if it's true? Prove all things. Check the new thing against the Bible, which is the ultimate standard and always will be true. Prove all things. Find out for sure whether they agree with the Bible or not!
7. Hold fast that which is good
Hold fast that which is good. Is that hard language to understand?? Let me rephrase it: hold tightly to the stuff that truly matters. The good stuff. I think that the tornado survivors have hit a home run on this point too. Holding tightly, valuing, the truly good things. Like the lives of their family. You may not have been hit with a tornado, but you can still obey this command. Hold tight and value the truly good things in your life.
8. Abstain from all appearance of evil
This is a hard command. This command doesn't just say to not do evil; it goes above and beyond to say to abstain from all appearance of evil! Do we do that?? Sometimes I wonder. I know that as a teenager, this command strikes a more personal note for me. I shouldn't just not do evil things. I need to abstain from any and all appearance that I did any evil! That is hard, but very important.
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So these are some of the things that I have been thinking about recently. I know that these may be some very deep subjects, but important ones as well.
good post
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