Proclamation:
"Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your
own business ... so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders
..." 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 (NIV)
Explanation:
Explanation:
These
words were written by the Apostle Paul under the influence of The Holy Spirit
of God to the believers in Thessalonica.
Paul was encouraging them to live their lives in such a manner so that
the non-believers could see Christ in their behavior and respect them for
living up to their Christian principals.
Application:
As believers we should live our
lives so as not to cause problems for others. We should have a genuine concern for others
and not inquire or talk about their affairs as a gossip. We should take care that we correct our own
sinful ways and not be so concerned regarding the sins of others. We should not beat people down with our
"Christianity." It would be
better if we lived in such a way that shows others what to do and how to
behave. We should live our lives so that
the unsaved will respect us for being true to our principals and so that we
provide a good example for others to follow.
Having a genuine Christian concern for your fellow man is a good thing,
but focusing on the sins of others is not helpful. Don't focus on the small problem that someone
has and ignore the significant problems of our own. (Matthew 7:3-4) Just because someone commits a different sin
than we do does not mean that they are worse off than we are. The only difference between us is that we
have been forgiven and saved by the grace of God.
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