Devotionals: 1 Thessalonians Archives

Final Words

By Andrew YoungMarch 24, 2018Devotionals: 1 Thessalonians

“…pray for us… greet all… read to all… grace… be with you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:25-28) Bible Reading: 1 Thessalonians 5:25-28 These final verses of 1 Thessalonians contain three brief commands and a benediction. My inclination was to skip over them and move on to the next portion of Scripture we are going to work through. But a few moments of reflection and prayer changed my mind. There is a “feast of good things” in these short verses. First, in the request, “Brothers, pray for us” (1 Thessalonians 5:25), we are made aware of the important place intercession is to hold in […]

Sanctified Through and Through

By Andrew YoungMarch 23, 2018Devotionals: 1 Thessalonians

“May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through.” (1 Thessalonians 5:23) Bible Reading: 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 Paul draws his first letter to the Thessalonians to a close with a prayer wish for their sanctification or holiness. Once more, he has the coming of the Lord in view. His desire for his readers is that they are found to be “blameless” in that day. The essence of his prayer wish is that “God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through” (1 Thessalonians 5:23). Sanctification has to do with being purified of all moral evil and […]

Quenching the Holy Spirit

By Andrew YoungMarch 22, 2018Devotionals: 1 Thessalonians

“Do not put out the Spirit’s fire…” (1 Thessalonians 5:19) Bible Reading: 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22 These three verses belong together. In them, Paul is warning the Thessalonians (and us) against extinguishing the Holy Spirit’s activity by mistreating manifestations of his presence. “Do not put out the Spirit’s fire,” he writes (1 Thessalonians 5:19, NIV). Likening the Holy Spirit’s activity within us to fire reminds us of the Spirit’s descent at Pentecost in the form of tongues of fire (Acts 2:3). Fire captures the idea of potent energy, consuming power, dynamic activity. As such, it is a fitting symbol of the Spirit’s […]

A Different Kind of Life

By Andrew YoungMarch 21, 2018Devotionals: 1 Thessalonians

“Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances…” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18) Bible Reading: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 These verses contain three short instructions. Were we to live them, they would change our lives and the world immediately around us. “Be joyful always,” writes Paul; “pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). Unceasing joy, prayer and thankfulness – that describes the kind of life that a Christian is to live. All three are “God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” When I read these words, I want to cry out, “Lord, this is impossible for me. You know […]

Life with One Another

By Andrew YoungMarch 20, 2018Devotionals: 1 Thessalonians

“Live in peace with each other…” (1 Thessalonians 5:13b) Bible Reading: 1 Thessalonians 5:13-15 There is a wealth of wisdom in these verses and in those that follow that we mustn’t pass over too quickly. They are similar to Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount and are always relevant to those who seriously seek to be his followers. “Live in peace with each other,” Paul begins (1 Thessalonians 5:13b). How different our families, our churches, our workplaces, and our world would be if only we took these simple words seriously. The moment two wills come into close contact, there […]

Respecting Leaders

By Andrew YoungMarch 19, 2018Devotionals: 1 Thessalonians

“…respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord, and who admonish you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:12) Bible Reading: 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13 Paul has finished what he has to say to the Thessalonians about the second coming of the Lord Jesus. He has a number of other practical instructions to give to the fledgeling church, however, advice that will both strengthen their faith and order their conduct as those living in Christ. The first of these is instruction on how to regard those who “work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord, and who […]

Waiting for the Day

By Andrew YoungMarch 18, 2018Devotionals: 1 Thessalonians

“…encourage one another and build each other up…” (1 Thessalonians 5:11) Bible Reading: 1 Thessalonians 5:9-11 Paul tells the Thessalonians that they are to await the coming day of the Lord alert and self-controlled, “putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet” (1 Thessalonians 5:8). They are not to be like the unbelieving world, slumbering in “peace and safety” as though nothing will ever change. That’s because, the apostle goes on to say, “God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ” (v. 9). We […]

Alert and Ready

By Andrew YoungMarch 17, 2018Devotionals: 1 Thessalonians

“…but let us be alert and self-controlled.” (1 Thessalonians 5:6) Bible Reading: 1 Thessalonians 5:4-8 The day of the Lord, we noted in our last devotional, will come upon an unsuspecting world suddenly, like a thief in the night, and overwhelm people with sudden destruction. Taken simply, this might suggest that everyone will be overtaken by surprise. But that is not the case, Paul hastens to say. “But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief,” he writes to the Thessalonian Christians (1 Thessalonians 5:4). Darkness is the time when people sleep, and […]

The Coming Day of the Lord

By Andrew YoungMarch 16, 2018Devotionals: 1 Thessalonians

“…the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.” (1 Thessalonians 5:2) Bible Reading: 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3 With this new chapter, there is a significant change in thought. Paul is still writing about things to come – the return of the Lord Jesus – but he moves on from looking at the comfort people can have in knowing that their departed loved ones will not miss out on that event. Here, he raises the matter of the “times and dates” connected with this event (1 Thessalonians 5:1). Actually, he shifts from talking about “the coming of the […]

Forever with the Lord

By Andrew YoungMarch 15, 2018Devotionals: 1 Thessalonians

“So we will be with the Lord forever.” (1 Thessalonians 4:17) Bible Reading: 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 While these verses do not tell us everything about what will happen when Jesus returns, they do provide details that we mustn’t overlook. They tell us, for example, that it will be the risen Lord Jesus who will appear – it is “the Lord himself” who will “come down from heaven” (1 Thessalonians 4:16). That is to say, he will appear in the heavens above us, “in the clouds,” “in the air” (v.17). Elsewhere we learn that he will appear “with his angels” (Matthew 16:27) […]