Monday Thought -- November 28, 2011

Good Morning Friends,

“May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through.  May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.  Brothers, pray for us.  Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss.  I charge you before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers.  The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:23-28)

The work that is happening in your life is God’s work.  He’s the one who is sanctifying you.  It doesn’t happen all at once, in fact, it won’t be completely finished on this side of heaven.  But God is now at work in everyone who has received Jesus Christ and He will continue to be at work until you draw your last breath.  You can count on that, because God has promised it and He is absolutely faithful.  It isn’t going to be easy work, in fact, it sometimes brings great pain.  Scrubbing the evil influences of sin out of the recesses of your heart is painful.  But God loves you enough to do what needs to be done even though it causes you pain.

Paul closes this letter with a challenge to the Thessalonians to do three things that will assist in the sanctifying work that God is doing in their own heart and in the hearts of those around them.

1.  When we pray for each other we join God’s work.  When we pray for others, God works in our own lives through those prayers.  When we pray for others, we assist God’s work in their lives, too.  Somehow in the divine scheme of things, our prayers release God’s work.

2.  Our fellowship with other believers also assists God’s work in their lives and in ours.  Identified by a holy kiss, it’s more than just a simple act, it’s sharing in the lives of other believers, being a part of their lives and their being a part of ours.

3.  One more way we assist God’s sanctifying work is by reading and encouraging others to read His Word.  It is the word of life, the word of growth, the Word of God Himself.  He’s given it to us so that we can grow through it and so that we can use it in the lives of other believers to help them grow.

And at the very end of it all is grace -- it was at the beginning, too (see 1 Thessalonians 1:1).  Grace is where our relationship with God starts and it’s where it will end, too!

His, by Grace,

Steve