Week of 6/16/2017 entry from Bible Promises for You Men’s Group: Discernment
Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 5: 21-22
Test everything; retain what is good. Refrain from every kind of evil.
Thought: Encourage all to seek the Lord and live your life knowing that the Lord will come like a thief in the night. do not procrastinate, be ready!
Application: ~~~ left blank in 2017 ~~~
Response: Father I pray that the gift of encouragement stays strong in my heart. I feel the blessing, the gift, you have given me when I engage others, thank you.
Looking back Today (2025): This chapter encourages us to live in the “day” and with the qualities and spirit of the Lord. Our lives are to be a “light” to others and prepare us for the Lord. We want the world to see Jesus by how we live our lives. In contrast, consider that sin is something that we often hide from others and is hard to be seen, this is a life of “darkness.” We must be able to discern areas in our own lives where we pull ourselves from a life of darkness and shine brightly in the light. In summary, I will leave you today with the guidance provided from verse 11: “Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up, as indeed you do.”
https://www.bible.com/bible/463/1TH.5.21-22
I love this! Build each other up instead of tearing others down. If we encourage goodness in everyone, we will all be closer to God and to each other, strengthening all relationships.
ReplyDeleteReading this comment made me think how will I do this today. I'm going to mindfully look for when a person is "talking behind someone's back" and try to TURN that conversation to good. There is a good chance that the person talking behind someone's back is actually me. I hope by writing this it will allow me to hear myself when I am guilty and stop me in my tracks because I will recognize it in the moment!
DeleteI feel like we're lucky as Christian's today, having the benefit of the Bible to "test everything" against. Paul and the early Christians clearly found that accountability in how they related to each other and to the Holy Spirit. It's comforting to stand on this side of millennia of theological doctrine and examination, but I'm sure there was much love and strength in that community.
ReplyDeleteI'm focused on one word that you shared... COMMUNITY and I'm actually encouraged. I believe that there is as much love and strength in a faith community today as there was then. Man has always struggled to do what is right, the will of God, and today small groups of people hold each other accountable to their words and actions in a faith community all around the world. There is good and bad now, just like as was then, in the time of the early christians. While the Bible is complete in its words, we living our lives as its final uwritten chapters.
ReplyDelete