Walk Properly

1 Thessalonians 4:9-12

But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; and indeed you do so toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more; that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, that you may walk properly toward those who are outside,…

This portion of scripture has so much to consider. It came to mind after reading this post by John Pavlovitz. He has some great thoughts concerning faith, trust and doubt which I wholeheartedly agree we all struggle with. The question that led me to this scripture “Is doubt inevitable and unavoidable?” gets answered, “Yes.” But another query is, “Does it always have to be like this or is it possible to decrease doubt and increase trust or faith?” I think there is much reason for hope here. Scripture supports growing trust, history is filled with examples and chances are you can look back on your life and name any number of areas where trust has replaced doubt.

We can and should encourage each other with this hope but never from a position of superiority. We can’t forget our times of question and doubt or think for a moment that we won’t be faced with more. We are all completely unique and in personal relationships with God whether we know it or not. Diminishing others because their faith doesn’t measure up is as wrong as wrong can be.

It seems to me the more our trust increases; the less important it is for us to be right, the more compassion and understanding we have for everyone, the less afraid we are of questions and the more equipped we are to share God’s love without strings or hoops.

Other thoughts on this passage: It begins and ends with love, always has, always will. Taught by God, we should never abdicate our personal relationship with God to anyone especially those that claim spiritual authority, apostleship, anointedness or asks you to be accountable to them. Increase more and more, there is always more of Him, we will never exhaust Him, there is and will always be more of Him to be understood and known. Lead a quiet life, mind your own business, and work with your own hands , For me these bring about many questions about what we see in so much of modern “Christianity”. Walk properly toward those who are outside, oh my.

I Love this Poem

I shared this poem a few years ago and love it so much I wanted to post it again for those that may have missed it.

Jesus shut within a Book
Is hardly worth a passing look;
Jesus shut within a creed
Is a fruitless Lord indeed.
But Jesus in the hearts of men
Shows His tenderness again.
-Gordon Grooms

God is Real

God is real, you can know Him personally and intimately and once you do, there’s more. It’s an eternal pursuit, a perpetual longing so we need never settle into a smug “I’ve got God all figured out” way of living. We can wake up each day eager for what we might be taught from and about Him, eager to share and learn from others. We don’t have to be anxious or fearful just careful that what we teach and discover is consistent with what He’s given us in His Word.

I can’t begin to tell you the hours and hours of angst behind the above paragraph. I know what you’re thinking, “Duh! You say those things all the time.” Lately I’ve been listening to and reading a bunch of different Bible teachers on both sides of the concept of knowing God. Some that tell us God will pick out your clothes for the day and others that say the Bible is the only place you can hear from Him. The one thing they have in common is their insistence that they’re right. Combine that with the crappy way many Christians treat each other plus those on the outside and you have good reason to struggle with some tough questions. The answers to those questions are found in the seeking, urgently needing to hear from God whether it be in His Word, through His people or however He may choose to get through.

All that to say, sometimes it’s good to have what you know challenged in order to dig deeper and know more certainly how much God loves and cares for you. Aw, just read the first paragraph.

Couldn’t He Tell Me?

Hearing God’s voice should never be an excuse to put ourselves between He and someone else. We should also never allow people to put us there. The intimate, one of a kind relationship God wants with us is also what He wants with everyone so why would we want to hinder that by getting in the way. We are called to encourage others towards Him. If we are given a Word for someone we need to be extremely careful in how we present it and ask them to seek Him in order to hear it for themselves.

One point of clarification, the “Word” we are talking about is a specific thought or action relating to a unique situation in someone’s life. This is not the same as Biblical wisdom that is always applicable. It’s always okay for us to share from The Word.

Confirmed

Having a Word from God confirmed is important especially when it’s a big one, something that affects the lives of others. He is more than happy to let you know for sure. I really like it when he stacks up five or six different things that all point in the same direction so coincidence can be removed. As we’ve said before, The Bible is a great place to seek confirmation. Having trusted friends seek Him on an issue with you is significant too.

Not everything needs to be confirmed before acting. Sometimes unfortunately confirmation comes after ignoring what you heard. I wish I had fewer examples come to mind right here, you may have one too.

Trump

One of the reasons hearing from God is such a difficult topic is that people use the words “God told me” in far more situations than He actually did. The phrase is so overused that it not only clouds the issue but too often closes minds to the possibility. “God told me” can be used to trump almost anything. Often it even contradicts God Himself. You can see how disconcerting this could be. The important thing to keep in mind with this is that though God is unique and wants that kind of relationship with us, He will never violate who He is. You will never hear something from Him that would go against His nature or ask you to violate His Word. So you can see how important knowing Him is.

Attributes

God wants more than anything for us to know Him. The relationship He desires with us must go both directions. He reveals Himself to us through His Word, creation, prayer and everyday interaction and one of the best ways to know when it’s Him is to be familiar with what we call His attributes or characteristics, those things about Him that are certain and have already been discovered. So let’s take a few days and explore some of the attributes of God.

Power

The way you breakup a logjam is with dynamite. The word dynamite comes from the same word the Bible uses to describe God’s power. The fear of not being loved can only be overcome through intimacy with The One who made us. His power alone breaks through all the perceived proof that we are unloved and frees us.

Taking Our Thoughts Captive

We can get better and better each day at identifying the lies and calling them out. Scripture calls this taking our thoughts captive: not allowing our minds to entertain the lies that lead to places of insecurity. We can catch these thoughts early, recognize them as the lies that they are and disregard them.

Friends

“No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.” What more do we need to change from “for God” to “with God”?