2 Thessalonians chapter 5: verses 16-17 (NIV)
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Micah Chapter 6: Verse 8 (NIV)
He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
Luke Chapter 11: Verse 42 (NIV)
“Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone.”
Paul winds up his first letter to the Thessalonian church with a simple encouragement on how to live in the will of God and its very straightforward. There will be times when God has something very specific, He wants us to do, but at other times He expects us to go about our day-to-day life with the right attitude in our hearts, facing whatever the day, week or month may bring. I still find myself amazed that this advice was written from prison under very difficult circumstances, and yet, equally as important as prayer, we are told to rejoice and give thanks in all circumstances. This. Paul says, is God’s will for us. Yet we might find the exhortation to pray easier than the other two things!
And as I thought about these words, I was reminded again of what Micah said is what is required of us, and it goes hand-in-hand with Paul’s advice. Sometimes the most simple and uncomplicated things are the things we find the hardest to do. We think we should be rushing about doing all sorts of “spiritual” things.
It suddenly struck me that this was the problem that the Pharisees had, and many of them couldn’t accept that their role was not to do or achieve, but to trust and emulate the attitude of Jesus. They got caught up with the wrong things. We are not called to “do things” for God, we are called to live under grace. Its not about what we need to do, because Jesus has done it all, it’s about how we need to live; rejoicing and giving thanks.
Dear Lord,
Thank You for the reminder not to get stressed out doing good works, good though they may be. Help me every day in prayer to always remember to give thanks and rejoice for all that Jesus has done for me. I ask in His name. Amen.