To Encourage You

1 Thessalonians 4:1 “Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more.”

If you are a believer, are you every discouraged by the fact that you aren’t a better one?  Do you wonder why you do the things you do, and don’t do more of what you should?  If you ever feel that way, rather than be discouraged by it, you should be encouraged in that God is simply making you aware of the fact that you have more potential for spiritual growth. That is true for each and every Christian.  Each of us should recognize that we have a long way to go compared to where we are now, spiritually, for as we look to our ultimate example, the Lord Jesus, each one of us, no matter who we are, falls woefully short.  That was true for the Thessalonian Christians, it was true for the great apostle Paul, it’s true for you, and it’s true for me. 

Along these lines there are various ways to be both satisfied and dissatisfied, spiritually speaking, and some are definitely better than others. For example, it is possible to have an “unholy dissatisfaction.”  This can involve constantly looking back at past failures and despairing over them.  If we tend towards these emotions, Satan is glad to pile on and accuse us that we are a terrible Christian or perhaps not a believer at all.  He’s the “accuser of our brothers” (Revelation 12:10), after all, and he prowls about like a roaring lion seeking to devour us (1 Peter 5:8).  But to this the Lord would have us follow Paul’s example “forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead” (Philippians 3:13), for what’s behind is behind, and “though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again” (Proverbs 24:16). 

But then there is also an “unholy satisfaction” that can set in.  That’s the attitude of “oh well, nobody’s perfect” and being more or less comfortable in some prevailing sin. We can have a heart that has left its first love and either presumes on the grace of God or is ambivalent to His great mercy.  On the other hand, someone can be satisfied that “they’ve arrived,” are above sin, or that they are holier than the other guy – all characteristic of a pride which God hates. 

Then there is a “holy dissatisfaction,” so to speak.  That’s the attitude Paul expresses towards the Thessalonian believers above.  He is thrilled that they are walking as they ought to walk. They, as relatively new Christians, have been obedient to what they have learned. They’ve turned from the pagan idolatry that they once knew, and are living with a mind set on the Spirit rather than a mind set on the world, as they once had been.  Yet, Paul urges them to not rest on their laurels, but to press on.  As Paul said of himself in Philippians 3:12-14, “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” And then he says this: “Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.Only let us hold true to what we have attained.”

Do you hear that? The truly mature person, spiritually speaking, while holding true to the spiritual growth they have attained, knows that there’s always more room to grow and thereby become more Christlike.  He or she is one who acknowledges their sinful failings when they occur, confesses and forsakes them, prays without ceasing, studies the Word of God, and strives to obey the command to “make every effort to supplement (their) faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love” (2 Peter 1:5-7). And surely if Peter felt this way, and Paul felt this way, then we would be wise to have the same attitude, thinking of ourselves with sober judgment (Romans 12:3), and striving “more and more” to live in a way that brings glory to God.