Always be
joyful. Never
stop praying. Be
thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to
Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
When I was in high school, we would have lots of books to
read for our English classes. Most
common were works by Shakespeare. No one
liked Shakespeare because it was both difficult to read and in many cases
boring. Then when reading Hamlet (one of
those difficult Shakespeare works), one of the students came in with this cute
yellow book called ‘Cliff’s Notes,’ which gave a summary of the book. Like many others, I was fascinated by it, and
took a quick read through it. I wish I
could say it helped me do well on the exam, but it did not. I still had to read the book to do well, but
it did give me great insight as to what the author was trying to impress upon
his audience. Now having read the Bible,
I have no desire to read the Cliff Notes of it because like Hamlet, I do not
get the full breadth of what God is trying to say. However in reading the Bible, I often get a
nice little summary of how one is to live for God much like those notes did for
Hamlet.
Learning to spend time reading the Bible is essential in
helping one live a Christ centered life.
In reading the closing chapter of Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians,
one gets so much wisdom about how to live for God. The verses for today jumped out at me about
things that we should aspire to do every day.
There are three operative words we should focus on; always, never, and
all. First, we should always be joyful. Joyful is what we aspire to be over happy for
happiness can be fleeting but joyfulness stays even when circumstances may
warrant time for sadness or mourning. Never stop praying. In case you have not been prayerful, let me
just say what prayer has done in my life.
It has helped me love my family better and saved me from harm way more
times than I can count. The more we
pray, the more God shows us. Be thankful
in all circumstances. Yes, it is fairly easy to be thankful when
times are good, but what about when things are not so good? We are at times disappointed with what life
throws our way, but God uses these experiences in many ways. Sometimes it is to help us learn something,
and other times it is because better and greater things await us.
There is so much God wants to say to us. In understanding that, it becomes easy to
know why the Bible is so long! Even
then, it speaks far beyond its words for if we not only read it but also truly
study it, we hear God speaking to our hearts as well as our minds. Even if you only have a moment I urge you to
still take time to read a little for God will take that short moment and change
your path toward a more life fulfilling journey. It helped me, and it can do the same for
you. When is the last time you opened
your Bible or digital Bible app? How can
you commit to reading His word more often?
My prayer is that we find just a little more time to read and study
God’s word for Cliff’s notes are great but as we read today, Paul’s notes are
greater! Amen.
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