Daily Devotional for Monday, April 22

What We Are To Do

“Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more. For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus,” 1 Thessalonians 4:1, 2.

Recently during our Sunday night service, our congregation broke up into pairs to share personal stories. We shared with our partner our salvation story of coming to faith in Jesus, and then each pair shared with the church as a whole. It was neat to hear names of individuals who were present and active in each of our testimonies. Men and women, Sunday School teachers, pastors, youth pastors, deacons, parents, aunts and uncles or siblings prayed with us to receive Christ. Each of those individuals made a mark in someone’s salvation history. They played a role that impacted Heaven.

Paul, Silas and Timothy played that role again and again. As they traveled and shared the good news of Jesus, people trusted Christ. However, they did not leave it at that. They taught them how to walk through life as Christians and how to please God. They gave them Jesus’ commandments. In this letter to the Thessalonians, Paul and his team reminded the believers of their teachings and urged them to strive to please God so they would abound in His blessings.

When we follow Jesus’ commands to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and our neighbor as ourselves (Mark 12:30, 31), to lead as a servant (Luke 22:26), to abide in Him (John 15:4), to go into all the world with the gospel (Mark 16:15), to make more disciples (Matthew 28:20), and many others, we will also abound more and more. Jesus came to give us an abundant life (John 10:10), and we experience it by following His commands.

THOUGHT
Which of Jesus’ commands could we implement more in our lives so that we may abound more?

Kelli Reynolds