Today's Guest Devotional, from 1 Thessalonians 5 is written by Martin Davids, a member of Manor Park Church
Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.
In these strange days I have, on social media, seen some strange behaviour - people fighting over the last toilet roll in the supermarket, tempers flaring at a petrol station and people who are otherwise "quite civilised" acting in very uncivilised ways. I think the uncertainty and the fear that everyone is experiencing is driving much of this. If we are the victim of such injustice, on the receiving end of someone's sharp tongue it is a very human tendency for us to want to get back at them. We may justify it saying well they had it coming to them and we can disguise revenge as justice. But the apostle Paul tells us do not pay back wrong for wrong.
We as Christians should set the example of forgiveness. We are Christ's ambassadors to a watching world. If we act and respond as the world does then we damage our witness and besmirch the name of Christ. Imagine trying to talk to someone in the months to come about Christ and they turn around to you and say "Oh were you not the person screaming at somebody at the supermarket because they cut you up in the car park?" It is hard to come back from that one.
We are all imperfect people and we all do imperfect things but let us remember that we are not to pay back wrong for wrong. Instead we are to be kind. Paul has two groups of people in mind here. Firstly one another. Galatians 6:10 tells us "Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers." So we are to especially be kind to Christians. However Paul does not stop there he tells us we are to be kind to everyone else. I believe Paul makes this distinction because the church at Thessalonica was a persecuted church. You can see it will be easy only be kind to the household of faith but how much more a witness to the world if they were to be kind to those who are persecuting them? I believe Paul here is expressing the very words or the heart of Jesus who said in Matthew 5 "For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?" We therefore as Christians are to be kind to all and look for ways that we can serve them.
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all
We now come to the second and third shortest verses in the Bible and though they are short they are very hard to keep. In our current circumstances is always easy to rejoice? I would maintain it is not. At least not in the natural. It takes some supernatural work for us to be able to rejoice in all circumstances.
It is very easy for us to be happy and rejoice when things are going our way but very hard for us to do the same in trying times. And the apostle Paul knew this. He had told the Philippian church that he could be content in all circumstances. This does not mean some silly false laughter when bad things happen, rather we realised that through it, God has a greater purpose. As I've often said God does not do things to us he does things for us. If we know that through everything God is conforming us to the likeness and image of his Son then surely we can rejoice.
Next we are to pray without ceasing. Does this mean that we are to do nothing but pray? Certainly not. Prayer should be on our lips at all time and our lives should be an attitude of prayer. This does not need to be anything formal; before we undertake a task offer a prayer, when a person or situation comes to mind we can pray about them or it, when we are tempted pray, when we find victory over temptation thank God in prayer. You see there are many ways that we can pray continually. When we pray realise that we have a God who listens, who cares about us, who delight to hear our prayers. This should be a great encouragement to us now and always.
Finally in this verse we are to give thanks in all circumstances. Again a very hard thing to do but we are commanded to do it. But some may say "How can I give thanks at the moment, when things are so bleak due to Covid-19. What is there to give thanks about?" Though Covid 19 and the resultant lockdown has not given us much to be thankful for there are some encouraging things that have come about because of it.
A few weeks ago, towards start of the outbreak one of the national news channels reported that doctors and nurses are taking time before their shift began to actually pray. What surprised me about this was twofold. Firstly medical professionals, who before this may never have given God or prayer second thought, are now openly praying on wards before they undertake their duties and secondly that our largely secular news was reporting on it in a favourable way.
I
have heard that Bible publishing companies reported that sales of Bibles are up
and though we are used to seeing supermarket shelves empty of toilet paper and
bread one large supermarket chain in America showed the shelf of Bibles empty,
having been nearly all sold out (see picture above). Furthermore Google have reported a huge spike
in people searching Google for "prayer". This is being noted even by secular
universities. The University of
Copenhagen did an analytic study on it and worked out in the last four weeks
that for every 80,000 new cases of Covid-19 the Google search for
"prayer" doubles. As of 26th April with worldwide cases
standing at nearly 3million that means searches for prayer have doubled 37
times.
Brothers and sisters are these things that we can give God thanks for? I believe so.
For this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus
A quick search on Amazon UK for the term "The will of God" returned over 10,000 results. It is not my purpose to get into that issue right now and I'm sure there are some very well-meaning authors. However as we close this study Paul makes very clear what the will of God is in verse 18. You want to know God's will be your life? Then everything that Paul has written from verse 12 to verse 17 is God's will your life. We don't need to read a book that someone has written about it, or go to a seminar. We don't need to lay down a fleece or try to discern open and closed doors. God's will for you is the same during our current pandemic as it was before and will be after. God wants us to respect and acknowledge those who work amongst us in the Lord. He wants us to live in peace with each other. He wants us to be busy, to encourage one another with patience. Do not do wrong but do what is good. To always rejoice always pray and always give thanks. If we do these things then we will be doing the will of God.
Song for the Day
I have chosen two songs for today – one a children’s song so that our younger people can set to memory 1 Thessalonians 5:15-18 (It may get stuck in your heads too). It can be found here.On a more serious note when I thought about how we can pray continually a song came to mind from the late Keith Green that is a plea that not just our words but our lives should be a prayer to God. It may be familiar so some and new to others.
Make my life a prayer to You
I wanna do what You want me to
No empty words and no white lies
No token prayers no compromise
I wanna shine the light You gave
Thru Your Son You sent to save us
From ourselves and our despair
It comforts me to know You're really there
Well, I wanna thank You now
For being patient with me
Oh, it's so hard to see
When my eyes are on me
I guess I'll have to trust
And just believe what You say
Oh, you're coming again
Coming to take me away
I wanna die and let You give
Your life to me so I might live
And share the hope You gave me
The love that set me free
I wanna tell the world out there
You're not some fable or fairy tale
That I've made up inside my head
You're God the Son and You've risen from the dead
Well, I wanna thank You now
For being patient with me
Oh, it's so hard to see
When my eyes are on me
I guess I'll have to trust
And just believe what You say
Oh, you're coming again
Coming to take me away
I wanna die and let You give
Your life to me so I might live
And share the hope You gave to me
I wanna share the love that set me free
The song with lyrics can be found here
A Prayer for the Day
Our Loving Heavenly Father,
We
find it hard to rejoice at times but especially when we are facing strange and
unusual times. We pray that you will
comfort our minds.
Remind us that no
matter what, you are in control and that everything works for the good of those who love you,
who have been called according to your purpose. Let us turn any anxieties to prayer.
Keep us in an attitude of prayer and let us
give thanks for all the many blessings that you have bestowed upon us; the
greatest of those being our salvation.
That we know, though the price paid by your Son we have our sins
forgiven and are adopted into your family.
May our lives show this in all we do and that when we have the opportunity to share our faith and give an answer for the hope that is within us we may be able to point to these days and the way that you have sustained us.
We praise you and thank you in the precious name of Jesus
Amen.
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