Monday, July 9, 2007

The gospel: God's will is that we be santified

1 Thessalonians 4:3-8

3 It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; 4 that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, 5 not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; 6 and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you. 7 For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. 8 Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.

We should control ourselves. We should avoid sexual immorality. We should learn to control our own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God.

We already know that the Lord will punish men for all such sins. For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives us His Holy Spirit.

We always face temptations in one form or another. Nevertheless we should not fall into temptations. Although it is always very difficult to keep ourselves within the holy boundary, we know God gives us enough strength and ability to live a holy life.

We should never be discouraged because God sanctifies us by His truth and His word is truth. As we grow, we also learn to defend ourselves from the devil's influence. We all walk on this path which has been paved by our Lord Jesus Christ. We know where this path leads us to, the Door to the kingdom of heaven. We keep the commandments of Jesus and we should grow to become men of love, faith and hope.

We are invited to His wedding in the coming age. Our hearts are filled with joy and peace because we will observe and experience the great celebration of the second coming of our Lord. So we, brothers and sisters, must walk in faith and live purposefully. Always be aware of our tasks and missions at hand and God would be pleased to see us working diligently for His kingdom. One denarius or ten denarii do not matter. It is not the amount of gifts we have been given but the amount of works and effort that we put in according to our gifts.

We may have the same question that the people who followed Jesus had,

 28 Therefore they said to Him, "What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?"
 29 Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent." (John 6:28-29)

This is the good news. We believe in Jesus and our faith produces the works of God. What a privilege to be part of what God is doing in His kingdom!

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