Monday 12/15/14

This week’s Monday Morning Bible Breakdown is on the second reading from last night: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24.

Brothers and sisters:
Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing.
In all circumstances give thanks,
for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.
Do not quench the Spirit.
Do not despise prophetic utterances.
Test everything; retain what is good.
Refrain from every kind of evil.

May the God of peace make you perfectly holy
and may you entirely, spirit, soul, and body,
be preserved blameless for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The one who calls you is faithful,
and he will also accomplish it.

Last night’s second reading begins with a list of instructions from Paul to the Church at Thessalonia. He tells them rejoice, to pray, give thanks, keep the Spirit alive in their Church, accept prophecy, test everything, keep the good, and refrain from evil. It seems short and poetic, but there is a lot in there.

It seems strange to command someone to rejoice. Rejoicing is the kind of thing that we think comes naturally at the right times. Sometimes it doesn’t, though. Sometimes we have to remind ourselves to rejoice. Remember, even in your darkest hour, the promise of eternal life is in your future. No matter how bad things get, as long as you desire a relationship with God, you can have one. If that’s not cause for rejoicing, I don’t know what is.

The instruction pray without ceasing is pretty difficult. If you are bothering to read this at all, then you probably pray, but do you do it unceasingly? At some point, we have to do other things. It’s hard to pray when you are eating a meal, talking to a friend, or taking an exam. Sure, we might take quick breaks from those things to say a quick prayer, but then we finish our prayer and get back to business. Praying unceasingly would get in the way of living life.

Then again, maybe not. Life itself can be a form of prayer. What does it mean to live your life as a prayer? Follow the Commandments. Treat others with love and respect. Use worthy language and don’t gossip. Do your best to always conduct yourself in ways that would make Christ proud that you are wearing His name. Live joyfully. Let your actions reflect a reverence for God and for life. If you praise God with your life itself, then you are living a life of prayer.

Giving thanks goes hand in hand with rejoicing. If you have reason to rejoice, you have reason to give thanks.

Paul tells us not to quench the Spirit. When people are first presented with Christ, often they are overcome with zeal. They can be quite fervent about their faith. As time goes on, though, it becomes easy to be lax about it. The excitement fades. Paul is warning us about that fading. He tells us to keep the Spirit alive. The joy of Easter and Christmas should be part of our lives every day.

We are commanded to accept prophetic utterances. The tradition of prophets and prophecy is a long and rich one. Typically, though, prophets pointed out problems with society. Occasionally a prophet would preach good news, but that was the exception rather than the norm. Usually a prophet was the mouthpiece of God, and they preached about what needed fixing. Naturally, people who most needed to hear the message were the people least likely to listen to it. No one wants to hear that they are doing a bad job. Paul warns against that kind of arrogance, and insists that we listen to the prophetic voices in our lives.

We are told to test everything, retaining what is good. We are not just supposed to blindly accept whatever people tell us. Rather, to ensure that we are praying and thinking about the right things, we should test it. We need to think critically. In Paul’s day there was a lot of misinformation and false teachings about Christ. In our days there is just as much. We need to make sure that we can think critically about the source and content of things we hear to judge whether or not they are worthy of belief.

The command to avoid evil is kind of a no brainer, but it is always nice to be reminded. Sin is fun. If it weren’t, we wouldn’t do it. We should always be on guard against evil and think before we act.

Paul ends with a blessing for the Church, and for us, the modern reader. Live his blessing.