Rejoicing, Praying, and Giving Thanks

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. –1 Thess. 5:16-18

The Christians in Thessalonica had undergone various trials in their day, including being accused before the city authorities of disloyalty to Caesar (Acts 17:5-9). Also, some members of the church recently had passed away (1 Thess. 4:13), which raised questions among those church members still living. How do we know Jesus hasn't abandoned us? Where exactly did our dear friends go when they died? Is walking with Christ an empty endeavor? What is God's will for us right now, anyway? Paul compassionately takes the time to answer their questions in his letter and to encourage them in their lives with Christ. In a nutshell, Paul explains whether we pass away or the Lord returns, "we will always be with the Lord" (v.17).

Right now, however, what is God's will for us? In chapter 4 of his letter, Paul tells the Thessalonians that God's will is their sanctification (4:3). Then, he picks up on this theme of God's will again at the end of the letter, saying, "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances—for this is God's will for you..." (5:16-18).

So, part of God's will for our lives is rejoicing, praying, and giving thanks. We rejoice that we will always live with Christ (4:17; 5:10). We pray about everything. We give thanks in all circumstances—both that God has showered us with many blessings but also that He is able to bring good things into our lives, even out of the bad. May we practice God's will by learning to rejoice and to pray and to give thanks!

Waiting for God Alone

For God alone my soul waits in silence;
from him comes my salvation.
He only is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.   –Ps. 62:1-2

In Psalm 62, David is distressed. He has people attacking him and Israel, and he's not sure what will be the outcome of the situation. However, he takes time to compose a song for the entire congregation of Israel to sing to God.

In verses 1-2, David directs his soul to God, as a model for the entire congregation of people who look up to him as their leader. He states bluntly that God alone can save him and steady him like a "rock." David is preaching to himself, "I shall not be greatly shaken" (v.3). Next, he states the problem that is facing him and his nation—attackers who want to "thrust him down from his high position" (v.4).

After stating his problem, David immediately repeats what he is going to do: "For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress" (vv.5-6). He is going to wait for God only—to steady him, protect him, comfort him, and direct him. Now, with slightly more confidence, he adjusts his opening refrain: "I shall not be shaken" (v.6). Finally, David instructs his countrymen directly to "trust in God at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us" (v.8).

May we all wait for God alone: to steady us and give us renewed hope. No other person can do that for us. In the meantime, may we pour out our hearts before him because he is a refuge for us. In his timing only, as we wait on him, we will not be greatly shaken.

Destroying Speculations and Obeying Christ

We are destroying speculations and every lofty opinion raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive into the obedience of Christ. And we are ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled. –2 Cor. 10:5-6

Paul's dealings with the Corinthian Church over the years could be summarized as challenging and corrective. Paul established the Church in Corinth with the help of Aquila and his wife Priscilla over a year-and-a-half period in the early 50's A.D. (Acts 18:2-3). Over the next 5-6 years, Paul wrote at least 4 letters to the Church at Corinth, two of which survive today as 1 and 2 Corinthians, which are the 2nd and 4th letters, chronologically (1 Cor. 5:9; 2 Cor 2:4, 9). Corinth was a port city (located on an isthmus between the Aegean and Ionian seas), with many people passing through on a regular basis, including entertainers, rhetoricians, travelers, and the like. In this context, sexual immorality and false apostles crept into the Corinthian Church. According to Paul, these two issues were the main reasons he wrote so many letters to the Corinthian Church (1 Cor. 5:9-10; 2 Cor. 7:8-9; 11:12-13; 12:21).

According to the false apostles, or "super-apostles" (as Paul liked to call them), Paul was not a true apostle sent from God, salvation was not by grace through faith in Christ alone, and Paul was "weak, and his speech of no account" (2 Cor. 10:10). In response, Paul argued, "If someone comes and proclaims a Jesus other than the one we proclaimed...or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you will put up with it readily enough" (11:4). In other words, they would reap what they sowed—the dissatisfaction and emptiness of false teachings and promises. Nevertheless, Paul compassionately expressed his concern that the Corinthians' "thoughts w[ould] be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ" (11:3).

No wonder Paul is concerned for the Corinthians to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. If they don't watch over their minds, they will end up following false apostles instead of Christ! So, Paul intensely instructs the Corinthians to destroy wrong thinking. At the same time, they are to make their mind captive to all that Christ Himself taught. Undoubtedly, this internal discipline of one's mind will generate a more complete obedience of Christ all the way out to one's own life and actions.

Therefore, may we all search and destroy wrong thinking in our minds. May we make our minds captive to all that Christ taught us. May our obedience to Him be more and more complete as our lives and actions glorify Christ each day from the inside out! 

A Pattern for Life and Peace

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. –Phil. 4:8-9

Here, the apostle Paul is closing out his letter to the Philippians. Previously, in chapter 3, he says he doesn't mind repeating himself concerning what is important to him (v.1). So, what is worth repeating? The "surpassing value of knowing Christ" is (v.8). Therefore, everything else Paul says falls under this idea of knowing Christ and letting Christ pattern our lives. That's why he says in verses 14-15 to "have this attitude" of "press[ing] on toward the...upward call of God in Christ Jesus," and in verse 16, "[L]et us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained," and in verse 17, "[J]oin in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us." So, in the last two chapters of Philippians, Paul is constantly referring to a pattern of living to which we all aspire out of the motivation to know Christ more deeply.

Now, this pattern of living teaches us to master life by the power of Christ rather than let life master us. Life should not dominate us; we should dominate life. Accordingly, Paul instructs his readers to rejoice in the Lord (4:4), not to be anxious (v.6a), to pray (v.6b), to let Christ guard our hearts and minds (v.7), and to discipline our thoughts (v.8). We are to think about true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and praiseworthy things. We should purposely discipline our thoughts and lives in an effort to know Christ more deeply. When we aspire to this pattern for life, we experience peace, and "the God of peace will be with [us]!"

How Much Is Enough?

For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, what you will eat...nor for your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? –Mt. 6:25

The people of Jesus' day, just like all people of all time, struggled with worrying and being content. The struggle was caused partly because of poverty but also partly because of a comparison mindset. Looking around at other people's lives and observing everything we lack in comparison to them can be destructive. It can fill us with a feeling of deserving what someone else has. We feel left out, or like we are missing something important. It can make us think we do not have enough—enough money, food, clothing, etc. So then, how much is enough?

According to Jesus, if we have food and clothing, we have enough. What?! What a shockingly low standard of enough—just food and clothing. Jesus doesn't even mention having shelter! This standard makes no sense, if we are comparing our situation to other people's lives. But, if we shift our standard of comparison to Jesus, we begin to feel more and more content. We sense that we actually have much more than food and clothing. Suddenly, we feel full. We feel warm. We feel God's provision.

In a world where seemingly everyone is looking around and pining after more, we need to change our standard of comparison. We need to realize that if we have food and clothing, then we have enough. Anything beyond these two provisions is strictly overflow. Cultivating this mindset will free us from worrying about life. We will not feel like we are missing something. Instead, we will feel unimaginably blessed. We will find ourselves increasingly content. We will come to a realization that God has truly given us more than enough.

Every Good Course

Then you will discern righteousness and justice and equity and every good course.   –Prov. 2:9

To be able to discern every good path for your life: what a deal! How will you gain this discernment? Solomon puts it like this, "if you...search for [wisdom] as for hidden treasures," you will find her (v.4). So, only if you seek wisdom with absolute, unrelenting gusto, will you then discern righteousness and justice and equity and every good course. In other words, read everything you can, watch everything you can, talk to everyone you can, reflect upon everything you can until you build the knowledge and understanding necessary to make wise decisions.

In the end, we want to seek for wisdom as devotedly as if we were looking for buried treasure. We never want to stop learning. Through all of life's seasons, we need to pursue wisdom with gusto for our own good and the good of others. In so doing, we will discern right and wrong. We will do justice. We will look out for the equity and welfare of all. And we will discern every good course for our lives. May God grant us this discernment through our absolute, unrelenting pursuit of wisdom!

Seeking First the Kingdom

But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. –Mt. 6:33-34

The sermon on the mount teaches us how to live our lives here and now in light of the reality of the kingdom of heaven. First and foremost, consider the beatitudes. "Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven"—in other words, people of the kingdom understand that their soul is morally poor before God and they mourn for our broken world (5:3-4). "Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth"—people of the kingdom are not fighting vehemently for themselves but are genuinely concerned  for their neighbors (v.5). Further, these people are the "salt of the earth"—their lives are intriguing because they model the coming of the kingdom of God (v.13). They are seeking first the kingdom (6:33) through following the beatitudes, or more plainly, through following Jesus Himself.

So in these verses, Jesus is teaching us His approach to life, which stands in great contrast to the way most people approach their lives. Just before Jesus admonishes us not to worry about tomorrow, He instructs us not to be preoccupied with our treasures, our money, our food, our clothing, or even our lives (vv.24-33). Furthermore, Jesus anticipates the "trouble" of each day, not to run from it, but to face it with poise, as a meek one, a peacemaker, and one so confident and secure in God the Father that He need not be anxious for anything. He is subject to the Father's prerogative to guide Him through the rhythm of the 24-hour created order. He approaches each day thinking, praying, and focusing on today.

We, too, must key into the 24 hours God has given us. Tune into His leading throughout the day. Sometimes, the Father has things for us other than our preconceived expectations and already-planned-out list of things to do. Sometimes "trouble" comes, but we can't let it surprise us. We must anticipate it. May we so trust the Father that we face each day with poise, as meek ones, peacemakers, and people who are seeking the kingdom of God one day at a time.

Greatness in God's Eyes

Sitting down, He called the twelve and said to them, "If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all." -Mk 9:35

Jesus and His disciples are walking through Galilee on their way to Capernaum, perhaps a 10-mile walk or so. The disciples are talking about who is the greatest among them. Why would they be talking about that? Jesus had just told them, "The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him..." (9:31). So, in response to the idea that Jesus might get killed, the disciples start vying for who would have the right to be the new leader when He's gone. They talk about their merits, who's done what, and who has been the greatest so far.

When the disciples and Jesus make it to their destination after a long day's walk, Jesus asks them what they were talking about along the way, (even though He already heard what they were talking about). Jesus is deliberately bringing up the conversation in order to teach his disciples the correct way to define greatness, and therefore, who is the greatest among them. Jesus says, "If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all" (v.35). Then, He picks up a little child who is present in the home in which they are staying, and says, "Whoever receives one child like this in My name receives Me..." (v.37).

The disciples, like many of us, had overlooked the little child as someone not worth their time or service. The little child is just too, little. And that is exactly Jesus' point. Greatness, in God's eyes, is serving the "little" person—the vulnerable, helpless, neglected, overlooked, inconsequential, noninfluential, can't-do-anything-for-you type of person. When we serve someone not to be recognized, not to gain a leg up, not to earn greater status, not to earn more money, or pad our ego, we are exhibiting true greatness. When we consider every person as infinitely valuable and worthy of our humble service, we are exhibiting greatness in God's eyes. Therefore, may we learn to be a servant of all and how to live a life that God would consider truly great!

With All Our Heart

You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. –Jer. 29:13

Jeremiah wrote during the 6th and 7th century B.C., when Judah was in a hopeless situation. They had lost their last good king Josiah, and were in political, social, and moral decline. It wasn't long before Babylon started taking people from Judah into exile. No wonder God wanted to give His people hope through the familiar Jeremiah 29:11 verse, "'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.'" With God, Judah could always have hope.

Sometimes in hopeless situations, though, we give up on God. We stop seeking Him. We stop praying, or thinking about Him. Even so, the problem is not always with the frequency of our prayers—sometimes, it's with their fervency. God responds to the passionate, honest, deep, with-all-your-heart type of seeking Him. That's why He follows up that familiar verse with, "You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart" (v.13, italics added). 

It's easy to let our expectations of God decline in hopeless situations. Even in normal circumstances, it's easy to let our fervency wane. As often as we seek Him, may we search for Him with all our heart, that we may find Him in all of life's situations.

Love and Hate

O you who love the LORD, hate evil! –Ps. 97:10

The book of Psalms is a rich collection of songs and poems. Many psalms contain allusions and quotes from various episodes in Israel's history. For example, Psalm 14:1 says "The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God.'" The word "fool" is simply a translation of Nabal's name from the story of Abigail and Nabal (1 Sam 25)! Psalm 78 alludes to the plagues of Egypt in detail (vv. 12-13, 43-51) and Israel's subsequent exodus (vv. 52-54). Psalm 110:1-2 quotes the Davidic Covenant (2 Sam. 7:8-17). Virtually every psalm has at least one echo of some story from Israel's past.

Unsurprisingly, Psalm 97 is no different. In the first verse it echoes Exodus 15:18 "The LORD reigns," and in verses 3-5 alludes to Exodus 19, the burning bush on Mt Sinai, "Fire goes before him...the mountains melt like wax before the LORD..." So, when verse 10 of the psalm instructs us to "hate evil," it is quoting Proverbs 8:13, which says, "The fear of the LORD is to hate evil." Furthermore, by quoting Proverbs, this psalm is invoking the wisdom tradition of Israel, which appears even in one of the earliest books of the bible, Job, "And to man He said, 'Behold, the fear of the LORD, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding'" (28:28). No wonder the Apostle Paul echoes this wisdom in Romans 12:9, "Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good." 

So, it is wise to cultivate a hatred of evil in our hearts, for this will help us recognize evil and depart from it. This departure from sin will free our hearts to love God more. We must hate evil as much as we love God. Therefore, let Psalm 97 exhort us all, "O you who love the LORD, hate evil!"

The Secret

I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.           –Phil. 4:12-13

The apostle Paul was not preoccupied with his living circumstances. According to him, his goal in life was to tell the story of the gospel. He says in 1 Corinthians, "I do all things for the sake of the gospel" (9:23). Further, after Paul was blinded during his dramatic conversion, he was in Damascus for three days without sight. God sent Ananias to Paul with an unexpected message, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you were coming, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit" (v.17). Regain his sight? Check. Be filled with the Holy Spirit? Huh? 

That message to be filled with the Holy Spirit laid the groundwork for all of Paul's future work. He mentions it in all of his letters, without exception. In fact, even while Paul was in prison, he wrote to the Philippians, "Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through...the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ..." (1:18-19). 

It is no surprise this message stuck with him his whole life—whenever he was yelled at, stoned half-to-death, arrested, imprisoned, beaten, shipwrecked, whenever he felt confused, opposed, frustrated, perplexed, weak, hungry, needy, unsure, or even content, full-bellied, hopeful, or happy—in any and every circumstance he had learned the secret of having abundance and suffering need, "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me" (4:13). But, how does one actually receive that strength? In Paul's words, it is through "the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ" (1:19).

So, regardless of our life circumstance, the secret to living is continually receiving strength from Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit. Let us do all things through Him who strengthens us!

The Attitude of Job

Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head, and he fell to the ground and worshiped. He said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I shall return there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD." –Job 1:20

There was a conventional, destructive myth going around in Job's day that if you lived a righteous life, nothing bad would ever happen to you. Consequently, bad things only happened to bad people. In fact, the first thing Eliphaz said to Job after seven days of silence was, "According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity and those who sow trouble harvest it" (4:8). So, after all the adversities Job experienced, he, his wife, and his friends were forced to make sense out of why it all happened.

To Job's so-called friends, the conventional wisdom of the day was absolutely true all the time, no exceptions. In their minds, it was an airtight case to look at Job's difficulties and blame him, just as in the beginning it would have been easy to give "blameless" Job the credit for his "seven sons and three daughters...7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and very many servants" (1:1-3).

So, how did Job answer the conventional wisdom of his day? As painful, mysterious, and humiliating as it would have been, Job bowed before God and said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I shall return there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away..." (v.20). This is the statement of a humble man who had never succumbed to the belief that he had earned his wealth and family by being good. Job's attitude was he did not own any of his possessions. As far as Job was concerned, he didn't own anything, ever. He started out in his mother's womb with nothing; therefore, anything beyond that was an extra, undeserved gift from God.

Job never did figure out why all that difficulty happened to him. In the midst of it, he simply humbled himself, went back to his childhood, and remembered that nothing he possessed had he ever deserved. We would do well to remember the attitude of Job in our adversities. We may never figure out why it all happens, but in the midst of our trouble, we will  find some relief if we humble ourselves and remember everything we have is an extra, undeserved gift from God.