Holy

We are making our way through Paul’s first letter to the Jesus followers in Thessalonica. Today, Paul reminds us that we are supposed to be different.


1 Thessalonians 4
1 Finally, dear brothers and sisters, we urge you in the name of the Lord Jesus to live in a way that pleases God, as we have taught you. You live this way already, and we encourage you to do so even more. 2 For you remember what we taught you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. 3 God’s will is for you to be holy, so stay away from all sexual sin. 4 Then each of you will control his own body and live in holiness and honor - 5 not in lustful passion like the pagans who do not know God and his ways. 6 Never harm or cheat a Christian brother in this matter by violating his wife, for the Lord avenges all such sins, as we have solemnly warned you before. 7 God has called us to live holy lives, not impure lives. 8 Therefore, anyone who refuses to live by these rules is not disobeying human teaching but is rejecting God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you. 9 But we don’t need to write to you about the importance of loving each other, for God himself has taught you to love one another. 10 Indeed, you already show your love for all the believers throughout Macedonia. Even so, dear brothers and sisters, we urge you to love them even more. 11 Make it your goal to live a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands, just as we instructed you before. 12 Then people who are not Christians will respect the way you live, and you will not need to depend on others.


Holy. As Jesus followers, we are called to live holy lives. Lives that are different. Lives that are concerned more with pleasing God and helping with the needs around us than fulfilling the wants within us. Lives that are driven more by the passions of God (the Holy Spirit, check out John 14:15-17) than the passions of me. Lives that are focused more on loving others and correcting me than loving me and correcting others (reread verses 10 and 11 and check out Matthew 7:1-5). The key is making sure our pursuit of holiness doesn’t become a badge of holiness (a “holier than thou” attitude). Sometimes we begin to love ourselves for how much we think we love God and forget to love others the way we know God loved us. That is what amazes me most about Jesus right now and why I passionately follow him … he was able to live a life that “pleased” God (check out Matthew 17:1-7) and earned the “respect” of nonbelievers (check out Mark 2:13-17). He was a picture of holiness that I pray is reprinted in my life.