Devotional for the Week — 14 December 2009

Devotional for the week – 14 December 2009

Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 3: 9-13
Sermon Title: Praise and Promise

Introduction

As we draw closer to the time of Christ’s coming, our natural response is to live our lives in expectancy. However, the way we respond to this ‘expectancy’ may manifest in differing ways, some of which may be detrimental to our spiritual lives and serve to help us lose focus on what we should be doing as disciples of Christ.

The Early Church

The early church, in those days, encountered problems with their people who responded irresponsibly when they believed that Christ would come in their lifetime. They believed that since Christ would come soon, there was no long-term benefit in continuing their daily routines and consequently, they abandoned their day-to-day responsibilities. They abandoned their work and their responsibilities to their families’ needs. At the other end of the spectrum, were Christians who turned doubtful when they saw their fellow brothers in Christ begin to die, one by one, without any sign of the Saviour in sight. They proceeded with their lives, eating, drinking, and being merry as they began to focus on making the world their own.

How Should We Live

As Christians, we should not lose focus but rather, live our lives,

i.	n thankfulness – for everything God has already done and everything else that He is going to do, even through life’s challenges and distresses (1 Thessalonians 3:7).
ii.	resting in Him and trusting God is at work – through Romans 8:28, we know that God works for the good of those who love Him, whatever their lot in life, even through their distress. We should, because of this, focus our efforts towards working alongside God to achieve His purposes.
iii.	growing in maturity and love – to do this, we must strive to spend time communing with God. Every time we struggle, we may remember the time when we were baptized as our baptism signifies our dying in Christ.

How We Should Not Live

We should not ‘live in the future’ – we must not get caught up with issues like how Christ will come, or get distracted by the many books or persons with theories that link Christ’s second coming to certain world events. Pre-occupation with this in the early church led to people shunning their responsibilities and this may also happen to us today if we do not check ourselves. As disciples, we need to focus on the present. We must also bring our anxieties to the Lord, whether it is about our concerns about present issues, how He wants us to live as disciples or do His mission. We must remember that when we do this, we are not arm-twisting God, but rather, exercising our faith in Him through seeking His direction. (1 Thessalonians 3:10) This is because God may still choose to open or close the door in respect of our petitions.

We should not ‘stop living’ – we must, however, commit what is beyond our means to God. We must not be like the Thessalonian Christians who froze all daily activities. They stopped work, lived immoral lives and shirked their responsibilities. Instead, we need to do what Paul did – he prayed continuously for the church then – he prayed for maturity and love for the church and continued to pray for them to lead blameless and holy lives. He didn’t abandon his duties to the church. Conclusion The day of final judgment is drawing nearer and we need to be ready and watchful. Instead of throwing our lives away, we must seek God and pray that He will grant us maturity and agape love. Even though this seems beyond us, we must still strive towards this and ask God for strength to help us grow into Christ-likeness”. We must press on and work alongside Him to achieve His purposes so that when He returns, He may say to us, “Well done! Good and faithful servant.”

Prayer Response

Dear Lord, please help us to focus on what you would want us to do, not on the future but how we should live our lives today in step with You. Help us also to grow in maturity and love for the people around us so that we may work alongside You to achieve your purposes. Teach us how to live our lives, anticipating your coming, Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Devotional based on a sermon by Rev Lim Jen Huat

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