July 21

I Thessalonians 4:1 lays out a very clear directive from the Apostle Paul to the believers whom he’s addressing in his letter. He admonishes them, “We beseech you, brothers and exhort you by the Lord Jesus Christ, that as you have received of us how you ought to walk and to please God so you may abound more and more.”

This is a weighty verse of scripture. Paul uses powerful language here. The word ‘beseech’ does not convey a mere request but an earnest supplication that includes begging. The word ‘exhort’ means to urge strongly, even to warn. And Paul’s beseeching and exhortation do not come merely under his own auspice, but in the authority of the Lord!

Paul’s urgent message to the Thessalonians (and to us) is that we walk as he walked—not after the flesh to satisfy our human desires but after the things of the Spirit in order that we may please God. The reward of that walk is that we will abound. Will we abound in the things of life that once so captured our fancy?

Perhaps. But if we do, we shall not count them as our prize. We shall hold the treasures of life that may accrue to us quite loosely. We shall use them to further the work of Christ who lays up for us abounding treasures in His eternal coffers, and those treasures will never diminish. They will spend forever.