Being In His Will

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE THESSALONIANS

BEING IN HIS WILL

1 Thess 5:15-18

15 Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else. 16 Be joyful always; 17 pray continually; 18 give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

NIV

How are we supposed to make sure nobody pays back wrong for wrong? Maybe it is not up to us to make sure about everyone else, but simply focus on ourselves and make sure we don’t engage in revenge. This would have to mean that first, we never allow something to fester if someone did something wrong to us. We would have to deal with it immediately and either simply not allow it to bother us, or if it did, then go to that person and ask them to forgive us for having ill feelings toward them because of what they did against us. Now it seems that we should point out their active that hurt us in some way. But that would be trying to get the speck out of our brothers’ eye with a log in our own eye. If they are truly a brother or sister in the Lord they would immediately, refuse to forgive by insisting they were the one in the wrong and ask us to forgive them. That is the ideal scenario in a healthy church. But, maybe the church isn’t as healthy as it should be and that is not what plays out and we end up with all sorts of friction, stress, and ill feelings all around. On the positive note, again we cannot force others to be kind to us, but we can make sure we are kind to everyone else, that includes the members of the body of Christ, and the ‘everyone else’ would be the non-believers we encounter on a daily basis. Being kind has to be active, not passive. Being kind is not ignoring others, but a responsive attitude in every situation, showing kindness. That would always be saying kind words to each other as well to anyone we deal with on a daily basis and it would make perfect sense that it would mean we were also joyful people. It would be very difficult to show kindness if we walked around with grumpy or sad-looking continence. On the other hand, if we were joyful in our hearts, it would show on our face, and kindness would simply be a natural response. Our joyfulness would be a natural expression of our constant being in communication with our Lord, which is what praying continually is. It would be very difficult to live out our daily lives, working, shopping, golfing, fishing, or whatever, if we were on our knees in prayer continually. However, if we were simply in communication with him, being aware of his presence, talking silently to him, and listening to his still small voice, then our joy would naturally overflow from us, and kindness would be a natural response, as well as being thankful in whatever circumstance we find ourselves in. It may be alright to not be thankful for the circumstance, but being thankful in that situation is something we can do. In other words, our situation of circumstance does not dictate whether we are thankful or not. What determines everything is being in the will of God in Christ Jesus.