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any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
May God Himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The One who calls you is faithful, and He will do it.
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Have you ever written a letter or card to someone?
I hope everyone reading this has at one time or another as it’s a wonderful way to communicate with those we care about.
If you are counted in the number of people who have sent correspondence of some kind to another person, how did you end your writing to them?
Usually, we will say something like this:
Hoping all is well there. Love, (fill in your name here)
Or maybe:
Always thinking about you. Love always, (your name)
Or, as I like to write:
Praying the Lord’s richest blessings will be upon you always. In Christ’s Love, Mark
Why the discussion on letter closings?
Because in the last two messages from Paul’s first letter to the Christians in Thessalonica (today’s and tomorrow’s), we’re going to see how the Apostle closed out his very personalized letter.
Today, we see how Paul had a special wish for all his Thessalonian readers. Look at his words here found in verses 23 and 24:
May God Himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The One who calls you is faithful, and He will do it.
Did you catch Paul’s wonderful hope for his brothers and sisters in Christ?
It was for holiness through the sanctification that only the God of peace could bring, the God who commands His people, past and present, to be holy as He is holy (Leviticus 19:2).
In other words, God wants Christian believers to intentionally work to model Him and His holiness each and every day.
Now, it’s not as if God didn’t show us what this holiness looks like. Rather, we know He came from Heaven to earth in the way of Jesus through the Great Incarnation and walked alongside His people for 33 years, more than enough time to show everyone how to become blameless because Jesus’ life was the only perfectly blameless life ever lived. It’s up to us, those who have placed their belief in Jesus as Savior, to emulate the way He lived up to the time this worldly life ends or He returns, whichever comes first.
Note how Paul tags this hope for holiness with an assurance. For we serve a God who is faithful and always carries out what He promises. It is His will that we be holy and so we can know that He will help us attain sanctification if we submit our will and way to Him.
Friends, this should be our wish for everyone. We need to follow the lead of Paul and make sure we let all people know how we hope for God to make them holy as He is holy so that their “whole spirit, soul, and body” might “be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord, Jesus Christ”.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com
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