1 Thessalonians 5:12-24; Psalm 101

1 Thessalonians 5:12-24
Paul is coming to the end of his letter, and he gives some final words of advice. "...honor those who are your leaders in the Lord's work.,,Show them great respect and wholehearted love because of their work." It's nice to express our appreciation, love, and loyalty to those who are leading and teaching us.

v. 14 tells us to be patient with everyone. Sometimes it's hard to tell exactly what a person's issues are, and so we should also be sensitive. If a person is lazy, we should warn him. If he's timid, we should encourage him, and if he's weak, we should take care of him. In each case, it's our job to be patient.

We must not pay back evil for evil, but we should try to do good to one another and to all people. This is the "kill them with kindness" principle. We can often diffuse problems and even win someone's trust by acts of unexpected kindness. v. 15

Wondering about God's will? v. 16 tells us!  "Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances,..." OK then, can we do God's will? We can certainly try.

v. 19 gives us more instructions. "Do not stifle the Holy Spirit." Do not discourage the work of the Holy Spirit in your own life or in anyone else's life. We should freely encourage the use of the gifts the Holy Spirit gives each of us. These are to benefit the whole Body of Christ. One of these gifts is mentioned here--prophecies.This is the teaching and preaching of the Word. We can test these by comparing what is taught to the Word of God.  We are to hold on to what is good and stay away from every kind of evil. v. 21-22

vv. 23-26 are Paul's closing words to this letter. He prays that they will be holy and blameless until the Lord comes back, knowing that God, who is faithful, will make this happen. He asks for their prayers, and he asks them to say hello to all the believers as they read the letter to all the brothers and sisters of the church. He ends with "May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you."

Psalm 101

David begins this psalm with praise to God for His love and justice, but his primary aim seems to be to ask God's help in living a godly life. v. 2 In his quest to live a holy life, David mentions several areas, Some of them are positive--things we should do; others are negative--things we should avoid.

• "I will lead a life of integrity in my own home." This may be the hardest place to live for the Lord. For some reason, we tend to let down our guards at home, and so, like David, we must ask for God's help in this area.
• "I will refuse to look at anything vile and vulgar." The vile and vulgar are easily accessible these days, but we can still refuse to look at it.
• I will avoid dishonest and evil people.
• I will not listen to people who slander others.
• I will will not endure conceit and pride.
• I will search out faithful people (I think this in particular means spiritually faithful people) to be my companions. Attitudes are contagious. We don't want to "catch" bad attitudes.

Remember that David was king of Israel, and so the last few verses probably deal with his standards for those who would be serving him. However, these are pretty good guidelines for choosing employees or even friends. vv. 6-8

• Choose faithful people
• Choose those of good reputation (above reproach)
• Avoid deceivers
• Avoid liars
• Avoid wicked people