1st Thessalonians 5

1st Thessalonians 5: 11-28 11Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

12Now we ask you, brothers, to respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you. 13Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. 14And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone. 15Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.

16Be joyful always; 17pray continually; 18give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. 19Do not put out the Spirit's fire; 20do not treat prophecies with contempt. 21Test everything. Hold on to the good. 22Avoid every kind of evil. 23May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.

25Brothers, pray for us. 26Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss. 27I charge you before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers. 28The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

God isn’t just the God of our spiritual self. He is our God through and through. He should be involved in everything we do.

Paul has written in 1st Thessalonians the kind of life Christians need to live. It is one that has an increasing and abounding love for one another. One that is worthy of God, one that is characterized by the kind of blamelessness that can stand the test of Christ’s judgment when He returns. It includes both attitudes and conduct: sexual purity, brotherly love, quiet minding of one’s own business, industriousness, mature theological understanding of the end times, spiritual alertness and self-control, respect of church leaders, thankfulness, prayerfulness, gratitude for and effective use of the Holy Spirit and His gifts, the ability to discriminate between right and wrong and the power to reject evil and do what is good. (!)

Christianity is NOT for weaklings!