Good morning,
Paul
wrote some powerful letters to the churches of his day. I am sure that
most modern preachers would enjoy preaching some of his stuff with just
a few adjustments. For instance, when Paul was writing to the
Thessalonian believers of his day, he was giving his readers some
powerful directions to help them lead a godly life. At one point he
gave them some great stuff that would make a wonderful three point
sermon. The points would be simple, Be joyful, Be praying and Be
thankful. These points would be uplifting and encouraging topics for
almost any modern day success driven congregation to hear. The problem
with this sermon would be that what the modern day preacher was saying
was what their people wanted to hear and not what God was saying to them
from his loving heart. The Lord was talking about joy and praying and
being thankful, but each of these ideas was modified in such a way that
no one could really follow his directions without the heavenly power of
the Holy Spirit.
Our Lord tells us to “Always be joyful.” That
kind of joy only comes from the Holy Spirit. Our circumstances are part
of life on Earth, but as God’s children, we are always being cared for
by the God who has planned every day of our lives. That is always a good
reason to enjoy his adventure of faith for us. Has God ever made a
mistake? Why would God tell us to never stop praying? Does our Savior
and Good Shepherd ever walk away from us so that talking to him about
the challenges of life and the choices we are asked to make are outside
of his perfect plan for our lives? Does Jesus care what we think and
does he long to hear us say “I love you, Lord” as we go through the
challenges of life, or is he just a problem solver when we get
overwhelmed with it all? And then he tells us to be thankful in “all
circumstances.” We are trained to think of life in terms of good days
and bad days. We all long for success and fear failure to achieve our
goals in life. However, if all the circumstances of life have already
been planned by a perfect Heavenly Father, which of the circumstances he
has planned for us are out of line with what will be best for him and
us in time and eternity? God’s plan for us never goes outside his love
and holiness for all of mankind for all of eternity. Dear Lord, would
you please keep teaching us the reality of always being joyful, of
always talking things through with you and always being thankful for the
circumstances you have arranged for us day by day?
1 Thessalonians 5:16
Always be joyful. 17 Never stop praying. 18 Be thankful in all
circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ
Jesus.
Roy Wisner
