“And to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you.” – 1 Thessalonians 4:11

What’s your life ambition? Does it look like a quiet life of hard work? Working with your hands wasn’t well-regarded in that part of the world back then but that’s what Paul advises for them and for us. He commands us to live holy lives that glorify our Savior. He commands us to live lives full of love for others. As for all the other stuff people chase after – fame, status, power, wealth – not so necessary. Often we exhaust ourselves chasing after things that aren’t bad but also aren’t necessary to live a satisfying life in Christ.

Paul (much like other wisdom writers in the Bible) praises the value and virtue of a quiet, satisfying life devoted to God and filled with meaningful, satisfying, honest hard work. There’s a lot to be said for that in our loud, unstable world that’s always pushing some new life hack or shortcut to avoid hard work.

Take a few moments and think about what you truly want your life to look like. What are you aspiring to? What are you dreaming about? Do you need to set your goals higher (in holiness and love for others)? Do you need to set your goals a bit lower to see and enjoy what God has already blessed you with or made available? #FollowJesus

“Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days.” – Galatians 1:18

We tend to be impatient in our service to the Lord. Trusting in God’s power, we expect results ASAP. Well, in God’s wisdom, as soon as possible might be a period of years. It certainly was for Saul (Paul). While a casual reading of Scripture tends to make us think everything happened very quickly, a more careful reading reveals that even for God’s most famous servants, things took time.

After his conversion, Saul spent three years doing… Well, we aren’t really sure! It certainly wasn’t high profile or famous! Most likely, he was praying, meditating on Scripture, and figuring out how to integrate his encyclopedic knowledge of the Old Testament with its perfect fulfillment in Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit was working in and through Saul, who’d already spent YEARS studying Scripture.

Only when the time was right did God move him out into ministry. Though he began preaching immediately, he wasn’t yet prepared (in God’s eyes) for the work prepared for him. Even after the three years, it would be several more years before Saul was called to help lead the church at Antioch and go out on mission. Everything was in God’s good timing and the results were magnificent. The lesson for Christians today isn’t that we should wait around doing nothing. Rather, we should always use our time well – worshipping, practicing personal spiritual habits like Bible study, meditation, memorization, prayer, fasting, giving, growing in community, serving God in various ways, and sharing Christ as we’re able.

God will transform us as we do these things. He will mature us and make us more and more like Jesus. He will also give us some clarity about what and how He wants us to serve Him in the future. As we gain that clarity about His calling on our lives, then we will already have begun the formation needed to be truly useful to Him. So, use your time well. Grow in the Lord. But be patient with Him and with yourself. You’re on a journey and even if you feel stuck, know that God has already prepared good things for you to do for His glory (Ephesians 2:10). #FollowJesus

“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” – James 4:7

This is a great reminder of a few essential truths about the adversary. The devil is real and will attack Christians. However, the devil is a coward. He can certainly seem scary but he’s also unimaginably weaker than the God Who lives in you if Jesus is your Lord. That means, if you live a life in alignment to God and obedience to King Jesus, the devil will flee from you. You’re too full of God to be successfully attacked by the devil! Live a life that pursues the joy of close relationship with God and there’s nothing the devil can do but run away.

Remember that the devil can’t make you do anything. Not if you’re sealed by the Holy Spirit. As a follower of Jesus, you’re marked as belonging to God. Though the devil can certainly tempt you and lie to you, he can’t make you do anything. So resist him! Stay in God’s Word daily so you can see through the devil’s lies. Pursue personal holiness so you can resist the devil’s temptations. When you resist in the strength and power of Jesus, the devil will have no choice but to run off.

Note that you don’t have to beat the devil. You don’t have to wrestle with him, beat him down, or throw him out yourself. You just need to submit to God’s good authority over your life and then stand firm in resisting the devil. He might go after you for awhile, but in resisting the devil, God will win the victory and the devil will leave. The devil hates Christians and loves to go after those who are spiritually weak, isolated, and unsubmitted to God. Those are Christians he can really have fun with. But if you’re in fellowship with God, Jesus, and other believers and you’re committed to resisting the devil’s methods, he will flee. #FollowJesus

“For so the Lord has commanded us, saying,
‘‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles,
that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”
– Acts 13:47

It would be impossible to overstate how important this task is to God! He has made all people in His image and made all people to be in relationship with Him. He desires to gather believers from every tribe, tongue, and nation, reconciling them to Him through faith in Jesus Christ. The task given to Barnabas and Saul remains an urgent, ongoing task for the church. We are to live and speak in such a way that we ARE a light for those who don’t yet believe in Jesus. We must get the words of life and the message of salvation to the ends of the earth.

The task is huge. Currently, there are billions who are unlikely to even hear the Gospel message from a Christian, much less embrace it. That doesn’t make it impossible. Nothing is impossible for God! It’s our responsibility, in this generation, to move this work forward. It will require devotion and sacrifice. It will require an educated church that is focused on prayer for the nations and people groups that need the gospel. Pray for God to prepare them to hear and respond. Pray for God to raise up those who will go and speak the message of salvation. Pray for God to raise up those who will translate the Scripture into their native language.

It will require sacrificial giving of financial resources to support translation efforts, the distribution of Gospel materials, the use of technology to spread the Gospel, and the sending of cross-cultural missionaries. It will require the devotion of time to support and encourage those who go and to welcome those coming to our community from the nations. It will require some to go, just as Barnabas and Paul did. Who will go to the nations? Is God calling you? #FollowJesus