Living In Harmony With God

October 31, 2016

Living In Harmony With God

God’s will is for you to be holy;

1 Thessalonians 4:3a

In the opening passage of chapter four (4:1-8), Paul uses the word holy, or holiness three times (verses 3, 4 & 7) in his appeal for us to live in a way that pleases God. Like the Apostle Paul, John Wesley loved the word holiness. He talked about scriptural holiness, holiness of the heart and holiness of life. Many people mistakenly think holiness has to do with rigid laws or rules, which through obedience, make a person holy. Not so; holiness is the state of being. As Christians, we know that our state of being, our acceptance by God, comes as a gift of God’s grace, through faith in Jesus. The best definition of Paul’s and John Wesley’s use of the word holiness is a state of being in harmony with God. Living in harmony with God is life in Christ.

Many years ago the owners of the Boston Celtics basketball team went public and sold stock in their company. My buddy Jimmy Bentley and I bought one share each in the storied basketball franchise. A short time later I was telling a friend about my purchase as we were riding in my car. From the backseat I heard the voice of my seven year old daughter, Tammy: “Dad do we own the Boston Celtics?” Her assumption, quite correctly, was that if I had bought the stock, then as my daughter she owned it also. Her statement revealed the essence of living in a state of harmony with God. When we are in harmony with God, what is true of Jesus is true of us.

The great mystery to living life in Christ is that we seem to be in a constant state of almost and not yet. When I have been in worship settings with my friend Robin Mark, I have noticed how often he needs to adjust the keys on the neck of his guitar. Keeping his guitar strings in proper tension is essential to the guitar making beautiful music. So it is with us. In this opening passage, Paul is showing us how to reach for the proper tension between grace and responsibility, between grace and self-discipline. Henry Ford supposedly said, “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there.” Paul’s has removed any doubt from where we are going:

“we urge you in the name of the Lord Jesus to live in a way that pleases God” (4:1)

          “God’s will is for you to be holy” (4:3)

          “live in holiness and honor” (4:4)

          “God has called us to live holy lives” (4:7)

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.