IIT UBF - University Bible Fellowship at IIT

Daily Bread

Live to Please God

Date: Feb. 20, 2022

Passage

1 Thessalonians 4:1-12 (ESV)

Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.

Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, 10 for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more, 11 and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, 12 so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.

Daily Bread

Key Verse: 4:1

Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more.

Paul urges the Thessalonian believers to please God and follow basic Christian principles to live by. He encourages them to do so all the more, not out of habit, but out of respect for Jesus. They should grow in holiness and live with Jesus’ authority.

Firstly, he teaches them how to be sanctified. The number one way is to avoid sexual immorality. This is how many Christians fall. Sexual immorality pierces a person’s heart, mind, and soul and makes them unhealthy in every way. Moreover, an unholy sexual appetite leads believers to take advantage of others, with no remorse. We need the Holy Spirit to win the victory over our earthly nature (Col 3:5).

The world around them was filled with sexual immorality promoted by a polytheistic worship that included prostitution. Like them, we need to renounce ungodly cultural norms and decide by faith to be holy, with the help of the Holy Spirit. Then we can escape God’s wrath, grow in holiness, and make a strong, godly community.

Secondly, they should continue to love each other with God’s help. This includes minding your own business and working hard, not depending on others. Such a quiet life distinguishes us from unbelievers who get entangled in fights.

Prayer: Prayer: Father, thank you for the Holy Spirit who sanctifies us to be holy and loving Christians.

One Word: One Word: Live to please God, not myself

Daily Bread

Life is a Pilgrimage

Genesis 47:1-12

Key Verse: 47:9

And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my sojourning are 130 years. Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their sojourning.”

Read More

Intro Daily