Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely. And may your spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.    1 Thessalonians 5:23 HCSB

Our Scripture passage for today comes at the end of a to-do list Paul gave the Thessalonians or church members at Thessalonica. This was in a form of a letter, the first one written to the church.

He began in verse 14 by encouraging them to warn those who are irresponsible, comfort those who are discouraged, help the weak, and be patient with everyone. He told them to see to it that no one repays evil for evil. He encouraged them to always pursue what is good for one another.

In verses 16-22, Paul encouraged them to rejoice always, pray constantly, and give thanks in everything. He also warned them against stifling the Spirit, despising prophecies but told them to test all things and hold on to what is good. He warned them to stay away from every kind of evil.

These are Christian virtues that we should display as Christ’s followers. We are not put here to secure our own salvation and then take a break. We are put here to serve the Lord. We are put here to encourage others and do our best to lead them to the Lord.

We do this by doing what Paul told the Thessalonians to do in verse 14. We should warn those who are irresponsible. Today we see so many so-called preachers twisting Scripture and not rightly dividing God’s word. People flock to them because they say what everyone wants to hear. You’re okay, your sin is okay. God’s good with whatever.

We must be able to discern and inspect the fruits of these evangelist. We must be able to warn others. The only way we can discern is to pray for wisdom and discernment and spend time studying God’s holy word.

To get people to listen to us we must be willing to comfort those who are discouraged, help the weak, and be patient with everyone. This is not so easy to do. But as John MacArthur puts it in his commentary, we must treat each other in the fellowship of the church.

We are to rejoice. As Christians, we should always have joy in our hearts.

We should pray continuously; this doesn’t mean vain repetitious prayers without stopping. This means regular, persistent prayer. We should acknowledge God in all we do and ask for His guidance (Proverbs 3:5-6).

It’s God’s will for us to give thanks in all circumstances. God is a good father who wants what is best for His children. If we truly believe this, we will be thankful in all circumstances. Romans 8:28 tells us God works all things for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. This means even when things don’t go our way, we can be thankful knowing God has our best interest at heart and will work it for our good.

Don’t stifle God’s Holy Spirit. Ephesians 4:30 tells us not to grieve the Holy Spirit. Our sin can stifle or grieve the Holy Spirit. We must walk by the Holy Spirit so that we do not gratify the desires of the flesh (Galatians 5:16).

We are to pay careful attention to God’s word when it is preached. We are to receive it and take it seriously. Don’t despise His word by continuing to live according to your fleshly desires.

We are to test all things. We must carefully examine when God’s word is preached. We must be discerning. We must be sure that what is being preached lines up with God’s Holy Word. If we find any preaching to be unbiblical, or even evil we are to stay away from it and warn others to do the same.

But when it is good, we must hold it tight. We must cling to what is good and stay away from every form of evil.

We are incapable of sanctifying ourselves but God Himself will sanctify us. We must put our trust in Him and be obedient. We must learn to discern. We must do our best not to sin and repent when we fail.

Have a great day!