The Apostles, in their letters, wrote both doctrine and practical instructions. Many instructions were to counter problems within a newly established group of believers.
These new believers were coming out of a hedonistic, idolatrous, pagan social structure and, while doing fairly well, needed some further encouragement in various matters, both spiritual and physical.
“The basic desire for each of us should be to please God. That’s the key to the Christian life,” wrote Pastor Chuck Smith in a sermon on this chapter (1 Thessalonians 4) of Paul’s epistle. This overarching principle provides a wonderful framework for all believers. It was taught to the believers directly by Apostle Paul in his first visit there. It was reemphasized in his letter to them. Pastor Smith said it’s “the key to the Christian life.” Not just a key. It is “the key.”
One could ask: “What exactly is the Christian life? What does it look like?” The way Apostle Paul puts it: we are to “. . .aspire to live quietly, and to mind” our “own affairs, and to work with” our “hands so that” we “may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.” —1 Thessalonians 4:11.12.
Pastor Smith put it this way: “Now this means to live sort of a quiet life. You know, with some people everything is a crisis, and they live from one crisis to the next. But he says, ‘Study to be . . . just live a quiet life.’ And that really is a simple life, and we need to learn to just live a simple life, a quiet life.”
Jesus spoke about living an abundant life, for which He came to give those who would believe in Him. When I think of abundance, I think first off of having more than enough of something. Food comes to mind immediately. I like food, mostly. Brussel sprouts might be an exception, but with enough hot sauce . . .
That’s as far as I got. It’s not from a scrap of paper; it’s from an unfinished post I’d saved to a flash drive a few years ago. Calmer times, those were. I hardly recall now, as things had not yet fallen apart; there was a “center” holding together this world. It was but a short time ago, yet like a dream those days fade into oblivion.
The other day I listened to a sermon by David Wilkerson given at Times Square Church a few years after America’s 911 wake up call. He spoke of more, and worse, disasters coming upon America. One of the things he reiterated is that our focus in times such as these should not be on physical preparations, for the answer is Spiritual.
Our quiet and abundant life isn’t necessarily in the physical world in which we live. It is in our right standing with our Father in Heaven through our Savior Jesus, Son of GOD and Son of Man. Proven through history, recorded to show us, GOD saves His People. Those who have their names written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. That Life is the life that will be calm and filled abundantly. We partake in it today, amid pending chaos in America, in a very unique Spiritual way, by the power of GOD’s Spirit dwelling within us in fullness.
John the Immerser called us to repentance; now the Living GOD calls us to a Baptism of His Spirit through which we may lead that quiet and abundant life despite storms that devastate, plagues that sicken, and conflicts that wound. . . or kill.
Jonah’s Song 