Christian conduct. 1Thess 5

I am not perfect; I'm forgiven. While I like this saying, sometimes I think it's used as an excuse for bad behavior. Yes, Christians are forgiven if they get right with God, but it doesn't negate the way we are to behave. We must constantly strive to be Christ-like (and please don't paint me a picture of Him as a doormat either....He's far from it). Being forgiven isn't an excuse for deliberate bad behavior. 

I digress.  In 1 Thessalonians 5, Paul paints a nice picture of how to conduct ourselves. 

1. Appreciate your church leaders for what they do...and tell them, too!

2. Live in peace with everyone, which really means just try to get along with others. Remember that you're just one side of that coin. You can't control the other person or their behavior. Don't antagonize or look for vengeful ways to get back at them. Avoidance is an option here, in my opinion. 

3. Admonish the unruly. Don't take this too far. It's not our job to police others. If the folks you're hanging around are doing bad things, tell them and quit hanging around them.  You can't make moral pagans. If it's another Christian, use Christian discipline. 

4. Encourage the faint hearted. 

5. Help the weak. 

6. Be patient with everyone.  Prayer will work best here. Pray ahead of time if you know you're going to be in a position that will test your patience. 

7. Don't repay evil for evil. This one will be much easier with prayer, too.  Seek wise counsel, too. Again, you cannot control the other person. You can control just you!  Resist satan's leading here.  You're better than that. 

8. Seek the good (Phil 4:8)

9. Rejoice always (Phil4:4)

10. Pray without ceasing. This doesn't mean you're on your knees all day long.  Just have a prayerful heart and spirit.  

11.  Give thanks. Thank God for all that He does in your life.  Thank the ones around you who do things for your benefit (See #1 above). 

12. Don't quench the Spirit. In other words pay attention while you're reading and praying and receiving wise counsel. 

13. Examine everything told to you.  Don't accept everything on the merits of others, including your church leadership. 

14. Abstain from every form of evil; abstain from even the appearance of evil. If it's going to make God look bad....don't do it!  

The Christian life isn't easy. It's much easier to go with the grain than against it. You will be tempted by satan at every turn.  Expect it. Be prepared. Put on the full armor of God (Eph 6:13-17) everyday. Spend time with God reading and praying, listening.  Spend time with other Christians.  Know His Word and expectations.  PLEDGE TO BE SOMEBODY REAL (LeCrae). 

Father, thank You for all You have done for me, for being with me and there for me.  Thank you for all Your blessings:  Your Son, my church, my leadership, my family, my friends, my home and all that's in it and working, for my hard working husband, my car, my finances, my trials, etc.  Please continue to keep us safe and protected from satan.  In Your Son's name, amen. 

Attitudes towards God and money. Ecclesiastes 5

Today's quiet time was spent in Ecc 5. Why?  My Bible app had one of the verses from that chapter as its verse of the day and I ventured to read the whole chapter.  Worked for me actually.  God is awesome like that. 

I did have to re-read the chapter a time or two to understand what it was trying to tell me. I try my best to take my thoughts captive (2 Cor 10:5) at all times.  Thoughts enter and exit all the time. It's controlling them that's tricky. Some thoughts I have to hastily push out once I realize it's coming from the "father of lies" (John 8:44). Satan is persistent though. He will continue to use thoughts to get to us. This is going to be a daily battle. In verse 2, Solomon is saying that we are not to be hasty in word or impulsive in thought--struggle, I know.  Continuing to read the verses below, he goes I to more detail by explaining what he means...the quick fix.  When something is going wrong for us, we want to get rid of it pronto!  Right?!?!?  What do we do?  In our weak moments, we begin to appeal to God to take it from us and even go as far as bargaining with Him.  We tell Him we'll be better spouses, parents, Christians, friends if He'll take this away. Solomon clearly warns us not to do this. Why?   Because we don't follow through. Life gets back in the way and we forget our promise.  Never a good idea to break a promise to God. Instead, try asking Him for wisdom or strength to deal with the issue. We're callable people.  We will fail. Lets not make it worse by making promises we can't keep, to Him or anyone else. 

The second half of the chapter deals with money. It's pretty simple really:  don't put money and stuff above God.  All good things come from God (James 1:17). He just expects us to keep Him first in all we do. It's ok to be financially well off.  God provides. Enjoy it responsibly while you're alive. Use it to further His Kingdom. Solomon cautions us to not hoard.  It isn't ours anyway, remember James 1:17? We are born naked; we will also die naked (without stuff).