Be a godly person. Live justly, and love one another. Quietly mind your own business, and be sad for the dead, but know that they are going to be seeing Jesus before you are.
Chapters 4 and 5 are books of encouragement. Remember, this book was written for young Christians who didn't have access to a complete New Testament. It was so easy for false teachers to arrive and put their own ideas across, without first hand knowledge of God. Paul was providing some basic rules to follow, and more than anything, giving examples of how they (and we) should encourage others.
Be Joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is Gods will for you in Jesus Christ.
Words that we could all do well to live by! As in most of Paul's writings, simple ideas which are difficult to follow at times.
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It is very hard indeed to be thankful in ALL circumstances. I was reading 1 Samuel 30 the other day and was encouraged by some things there.
ReplyDeleteDavid is living with and serving the Philistines at this time, because King Saul sought his life. King Achish was off to do battle with King Saul, and David was right behind him. But the other rulers with Achish disputed with him because David was Hebrew. David got left behind.
This bummed David out. "In ALL circumstances give thanks."
It's a good thing he got left behind because his village had been ransacked! He and his men wailed and mourned because all of their wives, children, and things had been taken by the enemy.
They set off to recover their stolen goods. Lo and behold they meet an Egyptian along the way who was starving. They fed him and asked him where he was from. He had been a part of the raiding party as servant to one of the Amalekites. Because he became ill, his master discarded him along the side of the road.
Look at that, ill and left in the road to die. "In ALL circumstances give thanks." Because of this, David was able to feed him, and saved his life.
Furthermore, David now had inside information on where the enemy was. "In ALL circumstances give thanks."
David recovered all of the plunder and the wives and children. In addition, he was able to plunder the Amalekites. So David came back richer than before.
"In ALL circumstances give thanks."
We don't know what is going on behind the scenes when bad things happen, but we do know that we can TRUST in the Almighty God Who is always at work.
Romans 8:28 And we know that in ALL things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.
A very good comment on how we should in All circumstances give thanks. We are where we are now because God has put us here for a reason, so we should give thanks. God is not a cosmic vending machine, so we should give thanks for the bad times as well as the good, because God is working out his plan for us in our lives.
ReplyDelete"This bummed David out" This quote, of course, comes from the "New American (almost English) Slang Translation of the NIV". In the King James version of the Slang Translation, of course, it says "Yea verily was David bummed out".