Thursday after the Eleventh Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on August 19, 2021 by under
Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 5:14-24 (NKJV)
5:14 Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all. 15 See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all.
16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise prophecies. 21 Test all things; hold fast what is good. 22 Abstain from every form of evil.
23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.
Devotion
God desires that we be sanctified wholly, that our entire lives be conformed to His perfect will. Believers are “predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son” (Rom. 8:29). And, it is God’s Holy Spirit, working through His Word and Sacraments, who not only brings us to repent of our sinful ways and trust in Christ but also works to conform our lives to that of Christ Jesus, our Savior.
In obedience to God’s Word, we seek to “comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all,” not render “evil for evil,” “pursue what is good,” “rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks,” not despise God’s Word, test all things and hold fast to what is good, and “abstain from every form of evil.” And, we are urged not to “quench the Spirit,” not to extinguish His gracious working in our lives by neglecting Word and Sacrament or to grieve Him by disobeying God’s Word and going our own way (cf. Eph. 4:30).
Rather, we are urged to sow to the Spirit by continuing in the hearing of God’s Word, confessing our sins and receiving God’s absolution, and partaking of Christ’s Supper that He would, through these means, move us to daily contrition and repentance and preserve us in the true faith in Christ our Savior unto life everlasting.
Prayer: Almighty and Everlasting God, Who art always more ready to hear than we to pray, and art wont to give more than either we desire or deserve: Pour down upon us the abundance of Thy mercy, forgiving us those things whereof our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things which we are not worthy to ask, but through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
