READING:
One-year plan: 1 Thessalonians 1-5, 2 Thessalonians 1-3
Two-year plan: Amos 6-9, Revelation 11:1-14
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We are to love one another, and we are to be holy before God. No exceptions.
None of us, however, can accomplish these things on our own. Paul understood that truth, as evidenced in these words of a prayer: “And may the Lord cause you to increase and overflow with love for one another and for everyone, just as we do for you. May he make your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints” (1 Thess 3:12-13). It’s God who gives us love and causes us to love others. It’s He who makes us holy and grants us grace to walk in holiness. And, it’s He who will be with us in our final accounting “before our God and Father.”
If you are trying to be holy and love others on the basis of your own efforts, you are fighting a losing battle. As one writer put it, “Only the Lord himself can strengthen them in their inner being for the two ways necessary to be prepared for his coming: ‘blameless’ with regard to their outward, visible conduct toward each other and the world; and ‘in holiness’ with regard to their relationship with God and Christ.”* Let the Lord do that work in you.
PERSONAL REFLECTION: Are you striving to do these things on your own?
DAILY PRAYER: “Father, I lean on You for these things.”
TOMORROW’S READING:
One-year plan: 1 Timothy 1-6
Two-year plan: Obadiah, Revelation 11:15-12:12
MEMORIZATION VERSE (December 1-15)
“For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is the power of God to us who are being saved.” (1 Corinthians 1:18)
*Fee, First and Second Letters, 133, quoted in Mark Howell, Exalting Jesus in 1 & 2 Thessalonians (Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary) (p. 72). Kindle Edition.