Week of December 1

In times past, parents would send their children off into the world with an exhortation to make something of themselves. Did your parents exhort you in a somewhat similar fashion when you were launching into adulthood? I read somewhere of a parent saying something like, “God has given you two hands, one to receive with and the other to give with.” Paul, a spiritual father to the many churches he planted on his missionary journeys, shared some final benedictions with the Thessalonians that provide excellent advice for believers, no matter the circumstance. I have labeled one set of exhortations as the “circle of blessing.” Let’s look more carefully at our focal passage today.

Have you ever noticed that maxims focus on the outer person? For example, “a kind word is never wasted.” Timeliness comes to mind whenever I hear someone say, “A stitch in time saves nine.” Paul, in contrast, provides us with important words regarding responsibility to oneself. He teaches us that fulfillment of Christian social responsibilities, like we see in the preceding quotes, is challenging, if not impossible, without personal communion with God (cf. EBC). We often sang “make me a channel of blessing today” when I was a child, echoing the great missionary Paul, as he teaches us how to live this reality every day.

Be joyful. First, he says, “be joyful always” (5:16). This virtue has been a consistent theme in the New Testament. Consider Christ’s beatitude in Matthew 5:10-12: “rejoice and be glad.” This attitude would provide hope during the early Church’s persecution. We see that this inner attitude was evident when the apostles suffered for Christ and when Paul and Silas were imprisoned (Acts 5:41; 16:25). Whether in good circumstances or hard ones, we can be joyful. Even when other believers make life miserable for us, joy should well up from inside our hearts (cf. Philippians 1:18; 4:4)! And when we are sorrowful, the Lord makes it possible to find joy (2 Corinthians 6:10). So, we are exhorted to make this attitude constant.

Pray from the heart. Secondly, we are to “pray without ceasing” (5:17). Incessant prayer is the only way to cultivate a lifestyle of joy. One writer has said that “uninterrupted communication with God keeps temporal and spiritual values in balance” (EBC). I recall mission camps where campers used “chatter prayers” and spent a length of time voicing their hearts to the Lord. Paul would agree that this sort of praying has its place, but we must not think that he means nonstop prayer. The word he uses means recurring prayer, originating from a heart that is calmly dependent upon God. I discovered early in my Christian life the benefit of speaking with the Lord throughout the day. I literally mouth or whisper praise, thanksgiving, intercessions, and petitions throughout the entire day. All of us are invited to open our whole lives to the Lord at any time, day or night. The great prayer warrior E.M. Bounds once said, “The little estimate we put on prayer is evidence from the little time we give to it.” So, pray throughout the day in every way!

Abide in thanksgiving. Finally, we are to give thanks in everything for this is God’s will in Christ Jesus (5:18). I like what one Bible commentator has said: “No combination of happenings can be termed ‘bad’ for a Christian because of God’s constant superintendence” (Romans 8:28). Isn’t it amazing to know that God uses our hardship to make the life ship hardy! Smooth sailing is made possible with the wind of thanksgiving in the sails. The doldrums are often of our own making. What we think to be aggravations are simply a temporary part of God’s larger plan for our spiritual good. When we fail to thank God for every little thing, then we open the way to doubt Him in everything (cf. Romans 1:21).

I am humbled whenever I look back on the period in life when I launched my “ship,” so to speak, into adulthood. You see, I carried some headstrong sentiments in the early years that I was going to make it on my own, but adversity soon began to buffet my ship! I quickly realized how blessed I had been at home with parents who had taken an active interest in my life success. I went to school on how they modeled the Christian life. I reflected upon their success and discovered the same principles we have been learning today. They had modeled living with joy, praying daily, and being grateful for whatever God provided.

Here is a spiritual application. I love the simplicity of Paul’s final exhortations. God’s will is summed up in all three things: joy, prayer, and thanks. The key ingredient is not the outward Mosaic Law, as some Jewish believers held, but the transforming presence of Christ Jesus that influences our innermost motives. Our obedience springs forth from yielding our whole beings to the indwelling Savior! Try these core attitudes and act upon them. You will look and feel and do so much better.

1. Draw a circle on a piece of paper that encompasses all the daily ups and downs you are facing. Include everything from family to friends, health to wealth, and losses to crosses. Take time to write next to these various life moments the many ways you may see joy and offer thanks. Then, pray for God to make these choices real in your life through prayer.

2. For Families: Parents, if our families could learn this little treasure of attitude triplets, our children’s lives will be strengthened immeasurably.

Share with your kids this verse and encourage them to memorize it. Ask them to repeat the verse everyday for a week, to make sure they retain it. Share what it means as well, and the benefits of doing daily what Paul suggests.

To help them verbalize their joy, prayer, and thanks, invite them to the kitchen table, where you have assembled colorful felt squares, scissors, a stapler, string, and colored magic markers. Ask them if they’d like to make Christian prayer flags to hang on your outside clothesline or wall.

Have the kids choose three felt squares - one each for joy, prayer, and thanks. Ask them to write or draw what makes them joyful on the first square. Then write a prayer to God that has no closing “Amen” (to symbolize its constant and open-ended nature) on the second. On the third square, make a list of things for which they are most thankful.

When they have finished, lay the squares across the table, side by side, with a few inches between each square. Lay a long string across the top of the squares. Now fold the felt over the string and staple, spacing the prayer flags evenly along the string.

Then attach the two ends of the string, with all of the banners, against your outside wall, to blow in the breeze, or to your clothesline, or stretched between two tree limbs. Seeing their joy and prayer and thanks on display will remind your children to make them a part of each day.

May your paths be straight,
Larry C. Ashlock