Pleasing to God

Living in Covenant

A Heart-felt Covenant

Live in the light of God (Isaiah 2:5) 

Jesus Teaches about Right Attitudes

1 Thessalonians 4:1-12 The Message

God-Taught

4 1-3 One final word, friends. We ask you—urge is more like it—that you keep on doing what we told you to do to please God, not in a dogged religious plod, but in a living, spirited dance. You know the guidelines we laid out for you from the Master Jesus. God wants you to live a pure life.
Keep yourselves from sexual promiscuity.
4-5 Learn to appreciate and give dignity to your body, not abusing it, as is so common among those who know nothing of God.
6-7 Don’t run roughshod over the concerns of your brothers and sisters. Their concerns are God’s concerns, and he will take care of them. We’ve warned you about this before. God hasn’t invited us into a disorderly, unkempt life but into something holy and beautiful—as beautiful on the inside as the outside.
8 If you disregard this advice, you’re not offending your neighbors; you’re rejecting God, who is making you a gift of his Holy Spirit.
9-10 Regarding life together and getting along with each other, you don’t need me to tell you what to do. You’re God-taught in these matters. Just love one another! You’re already good at it; your friends all over the province of Macedonia are the evidence. Keep it up; get better and better at it.
11-12 Stay calm; mind your own business; do your own job. You’ve heard all this from us before, but a reminder never hurts. We want you living in a way that will command the respect of outsiders, not lying around sponging off your friends.

For Reflection

All of humanity is divinely created. We are made in the image of God, endowed with creativity, and complete. Even those who deny their divine beginnings are capable of holiness if they so choose. Righteousness is not just a matter of doing the right thing. It is also a matter of having the moral will and skill to fulfill the holy purpose for which God intended.

Pray

Pray so that you will be more able to respond to the Christ that resides within your soul. Pray so that you can understand that each of us is a holy creation to be loved and respected no matter how we present ourselves.

Note: Dyed silk banner by students at the Presbyterian Association of Musicians, Montreat, NC, 2019
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