Devotional Thoughts

I've been reading through 1 Thessalonians and I thought I'd post some thoughts on what I read today.

5:5 "for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness"
I didn't post the first four verses because I didn't go over those today in my study time. But by all means, feel free to read them so you understand the context in which these verses were written.

"For you are all sons of light and sons of day." What does it mean to be a son of light and of day? Well, first off, what is light and day? In the physical, it is the time in which we are awake and active. Light is what helps us see so we can be active without hurting ourselves like we would in the dark. In the spiritual sense, God is light. (1 John 1:5) He shows us who we are when we look into His Word. When we accept Jesus into our lives, we become the adopted son or daughter of God and are transferred from darkness into God's marvelous light. (1 Pet 2:9) Now what? We need to act like a son or daughter of light so that unbelievers can see a difference in us! So that they can see what God is like, and therefore desire to become a Christian as well (and hopefully become one!). Since we are sons and daughters of light, we are not of night or darkness anymore. What is night and darkness? Read on.


5:6 "so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober (self controlled)."
Because we are now of the light and day, we need to be alert and sober, or self controlled as the footnotes in my Bible say. In other words, we need to be alert and not caught off guard when we are tempted. We need to be self controlled when we are tempted, and do what God wants us to do instead of what seems good. We need to be alert as to what God is saying to us through His Word and His Spirit. And we need to be self controlled enough so that we obey Him instead of doing what our flesh wants.


5:7 "For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night"
And here it tells us what people of the night and darkness do. Sure, we should get physical sleep at night. But this is talking about spiritual sleep. As stated in verse 6, we need to be alert and sober. I heard a preacher once say that drunkeness in the Bible could also refer to being drunk with the flesh. What does that mean? Giving into what your flesh wants to do. Each time you disobey God, it becomes easier and easier to disobey Him. It prevents you from being alert to what God wants you to do. It influences you to sin and keeps you from being self-controlled, like being drunk in the physical sense would. Instead of continuing in sin, repent and get right with God! Sin is a road to destruction, and if you continue in it too long, it could end in your destruction, or someone else's.

5:8 "But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation."

How can we stay self-controlled? We need to put on the breastplate of faith and love! The two work together. The greek word of "love" is agape. It is unconditional love, unending love. The love God has for us, and the love we need to have for God and all mankind. (See Camden's posts on love for more info about what it is!) Why is it called a breastplate? I believe that when we "put on" this faith and love and keep it on, it is a protection against the enemy. For instance, when we have faith in God, we trust in Him and that He will keep His promises. When we combine this with love, every action taken in faith is not for ourselves, but for others. When we do things for ourself, it's easy to not step out in faith. We think, "Oh, I don't think I should talk to that person about God. I'm not brave enough. And I'm not a great speaker. They'd laugh at me." But when you obey God out of love for Him and others, then you see that this isn't about you, but about others. About showing them God's love. When we do this, we overcome temptation to not do what God's told us to do. When we walk in love, we are walking in obedience to God, and therefore are under His "umbrella" of protection.

5:^{9 "}For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,"

The greek word for "wrath" is orge (pronounced "or-gay' "). It means impulse; passion or any violent commotion of mind; indignation, anger, wrath, desire for vengeance, punishment. God has not destined us for this!! Realize 1. God is not waiting to pour out his wrath on you! You are his child! He doesn't want to hurt you! Every good and perfect gift comes from God, who is good. Nothing bad comes from Him. Everything bad comes from the devil, who comes to kill, steel and destroy. (John 10:10.) Point 2. We need to not have this attitude toward people, either. Show others the same mercy and love God has shown you! If you boil up with anger against other people, wanting to give them "what they deserve," this is NOT love. This is acting as a child of darkness, not of light. It doesn't matter what they did to you, or what they're doing. Forgive them. Pray for them. Don't harbor bitterness or unforgiveness in your heart. 3. God has destined us for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ! Salvation means wholeness; lacking nothing. God has done so much for us to bring us salvation. Let's do our part and really act as the children of God we are.

5:10 ^"who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him."

Jesus died to bring us salvation. He gave His all. He sacrificed everything so we could have fellowship with Him. We should not treat this lightly, but always be in awe of what He has done for us!

5:11-13 "Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing. ¹²But we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction, ¹³and that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Live in peace with one another."

Encourage each other with what you learn from God! And keep excelling in it. Don't ever think you've reached a point in the Christian life where you can stop excelling.

Be sure to give honor where honor is due. Be respectful to those who "have charge over you" - which includes your parents and pastor. Appreciate them, thank God for them, and do things to show your appreciation. Respect them, and obey them! Even if you don't always agree with them, keep esteeming them very highly in love! Don't be at war with them. God has placed them in your life for your protection. To help you grow. You'll never be in a place in your life where you can quit growing in the Lord. Part of maturity is showing respect for those God has placed in authority in your life. Anything less is immature.

5:14-15 "We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone. 15 See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another and for all people.

I think these last verses are self explanatory, so I won't say anything more about them.