Good Advice

Scripture Passage that caught my attention today: 1 Thessalonians 5:12-22 But we appeal to you, brothers and sisters, to respect those who labor among you, and have charge of you in the Lord and admonish you; 13 esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. 14 And we urge you, beloved, to admonish the idlers, encourage the faint hearted, help the weak, be patient with all of them. 15 See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all. 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise the words of prophets, 21 but test everything; hold fast to what is good; 22 abstain from every form of evil.

Observation: This is good advice and a good perspective.

Application: A book could probably be written as an elaboration of the above passage. Much wisdom is found there. But for today’s purposes I will highlight the verse “See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all.”

To begin, I think Paul is acknowledging that, whenever we feel that we have been wronged, there is a natural impulse to strike back. This is why he indicates that people should not repay evil for evil.

To help in that regard (since the best way to break a bad habit is often to replace it with a good habit), Paul lays out the desired approach—“always seek to do good to one another.” This is simply a slightly different way of phrasing Jesus’ own directive to “do unto others as you would have others do unto you.”

But then takes it one step further. Rather than simply focusing on seeking to do good to one another, Paul also adds an important additional phrase—“and to all.” In other words, we are encouraged to think beyond ourselves and one another to what might be good for all.

Therein lies a two-fold challenge. On the one hand, considering what might be good ‘for all’ takes significantly more thought and helps us to truly see beyond ourselves…perhaps. I say “perhaps” because the flip-side of this challenge is that it is possible to conclude and/or assume that what is good for us is good for all. Hmmm….

Perhaps this is why a couple verses later Paul advocates testing everything and holding fast to what is good. In many ways all of life is a test, a grand experiment by God to begin with but for us as participants in creation as well. Through trial and error we discover what works, what doesn’t work, and how different times and different contexts will often yield different results.

While that might be frustrating to some, Paul holds out a more positive view. “Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

Prayer: Lord, thanks for the wisdom found in this passage. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

(Readings today included: 1 Kings 1, 1 Chronicles 28, Psalm 91, and 1 Thessalonians 5)