Do Better
Scripture Reading: Psalm 102; Jeremiah 11-13; 1 Thessalonians 5
Rejoice always,
Pray without ceasing,
In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Do not quench the Spirit.
Do not despise prophecies.
Test all things;
Hold fast to what is good.
Abstain from every form of evil.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:16-22 -
You might have heard the phrase “form follows function” before. It was coined by architect Louis Sullivan as a way of describing a philosophy of designing buildings. What Sullivan was expressing in this phrase is that the form of a building should be determined by its purpose. Form should serve function. A bank should appear solid and trustworthy. A church should seem reverent and holy. A warehouse should be clean, spacious, and simple. Later, that phrase was carried over into a multitude of disciplines – art, literature, and even ministry.
Now, I said all of that to explain why I, and many Bible translations, wrote the verses above in the way I did. I wrote them like a to do list or a checklist because, in a sense, that is what this is. Paul concludes the letter of 1 Thessalonians with a string of phrases which exhort the believer to particular actions. This is not the only one of these you can find, and it isn’t meant to be an exhaustive list of everything a Christian is supposed to do. But it is a good reminder when we come across this list and others like it our daily Bible reading of the kinds of things that should be a habitual part of our lives.
It would not be wrong to read this like a “checklist” of things we should be doing and ask ourselves where we need to step up our game and do better.
Early in my Christian life, we had an associate pastor in our church who would send out “do better letters” to church members who were slacking off in their commitments and responsibilities. I don’t know if that would fly in today’s environment, but back then it seemed effective. People seemed to be more humble and willing to accept personal admonition once upon a time.
It would be good for us to read through this list, taking mental stock of each line, and doing a personal evaluation and asking ourselves if Paul would send us a “do better letter” if he knew how we were doing in these areas of life.
Are we always rejoicing?
Are we praying without ceasing?
Are we giving thanks in everything? It is God’s will for us, after all.
And so on…
If we are slacking off in any of these things it would be good to confess that and seek God’s grace to do better. That’s repentance. And repentance is good for the soul.
