25 February - Living Christian Lives
“For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.”
1 Thessalonians 2:11-12
Many of us have heard from family and friends, and others, that the bar of Christian living is set too high. So high, they say, that it is impossible for anyone to attain. Many Christians like ourselves must have often pondered and wondered over this same question. The bible tells us that even the great among the faithful feels this same sense of helplessness (Romans 7:18b, 24).
But however high the bar, Paul gives us in this epistle a vision of what should drive us – the Second Coming; the freedom from fear of God’s wrath and judgment (1:10b; 2:15); the bodily resurrection and glorious meeting of the faithful, both living and dead with the Lord (4:13ff; cf. 1 Corinthians 15:12ff); the inheritance of salvation (5:8-9).
Earlier, he gave us some practical guidelines. Even though he could have demanded to be supported, he has chosen not to burden others, but to work hard to support himself (2:6b, 9), while pointing others to Christ; to be gentle “like a mother” and loving (2:7-8). Is the bar too high? Well, Paul described those easily achievable actions as “holy, righteous and blameless” living (2:10).
In our passage, Paul says that Christian living also means treating each other as a father would treat his beloved child. There are those among us who are blessed. But even those among us whose fathers fall, sometimes far short, nevertheless can see these same fatherly qualities in those who mentor us or in those we look up to as our role-models. Paul uses the words “encouraging, comforting and urging” to set the bar for us. To challenge and push us to greater heights in simple ways: to walk alongside each other; to weep and to rejoice together.
Here we see the complete picture of the ideal Christian family: a nurturing home in which a gentle, caring mother and a loving, caring father, each complementing and helping the other to bring about the best in their family.
The Christian family acts as one to even go over and beyond the bar.
• To hold on fast to the sure hope and certain promise in the salvation to come on the Lord’s return.
• To not succumb to the tribulations and temptations of the world.
• To not fight each other over our own small agendas.
• To not dwell on our hurts, imagined or otherwise.
But rather to help each other to rise above them. Such then is to ‘live lives worthy of God’ (v.12) – worthy of the loving and eternal Father who has made these promises to us in his Son Jesus Christ.
And the prize over and beyond the bar? God’s kingdom and glory!
PONDER
Are we easily discouraged by the seemingly insurmountable bar of Christian living?
PROMISE
Are we easily discouraged by the seemingly insurmountable bar of Christian living?
PRAYER
Dear Father, help me to be strong and trust in you even more, the more troublesome the times. Amen.
Article by the Reverend Gordon Kong who serves at St Mary's Cathedral, Kuala Lumpur. He is pastorally responsible for the 8.30am and 6.00pm liturgical services plus the Nepali outreach ministry.