Pleasing to God

I Thess. 4:1

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.

 

How do we walk to please God? Exactly what does that entail? Even though Paul said the Thessalonians had already been taught these important issues, he restated them. Is there ever too much teaching of the same thing? No, sadly, the human heart is very forgetful. Before Paul actually began the teaching, he asks and urges them. It is a double whammy! The importance of this walk cannot be understated, and at the same time, he wanted the Thessalonians to do so more and more. This walk of pleasing God is a matter of growth and constant repetition. As I am constantly reminded by the Spirit and the Word, I am to walk constantly growing!

 

Reminder #1. 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. Believers are to be decidedly different from unbelievers, especially in the area of immorality! Instead of being controlled by fleshly passion, self-control must rule the day. Great! Self-control is a fruit of the Spirit, and the Spirit lives within us. There is ready help, but first we must want the Spirit's help. For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. The warning is if you fall to any fleshly passion [immorality whether physical, visual, on-line, etc.], you are not disregarding man but God who gives you the Spirit. God has given us the source of help. It is up to us to use it!

 

Reminder #2. Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another...Once again, Paul urged them to do this more and more, to grow in loving others. God teaches his children to love each other by His own living example in loving us while we were still in sin, by sacrificing His own Son for our sin, by sending Jesus to earth, by having Him die and rise again, by choosing us, by sealing us for the day when Jesus comes back, by sanctifying us, and by eventually glorifying us! Wow!

 

Reminder #3 and #4. to live quietly and to mind your own affairs...to work with your hands...Staying in your own business definitely keeps you out of other's business. No idle time for believers!

 

And the purpose of all of these reminders, so that you might walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one. Col. 4:5-6 says, Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer ever man. There it is! Walking pleasing to the Lord is walking in the wisdom that only He gives!

 

Father,

Thank You for these reminders. Grow me in my brotherly love. Teach me what loving others really means.

In Jesus name,

Amen