English Standard Version
Here's a section that was clearly written before the advent of social media! Paul urges the Thessalonians to live quiet lives, filled with integrity, working hard, diligently using the resources granted to them to glorify God in the smallest parts of their lives.
Our lives are linked, from one moment to the next, each lived in the sweet embrace of God. What we do at work and with our children and in our free time and with our parents and with our grandchildren and in church and on Friday nights and Tuesday mornings and Monday afternoons and Sunday mornings.... it all matters. It's all lived before God, and each one of your breaths is an offering to God. We've grown a long way from that understanding of a life lived before God -- we tend to live now as though offering up a good worship service on Sunday mornings is enough -- like a box to be checked. It's never enough, but not in a way that makes you feel like you're falling behind -- it's intended to be in a way that makes you feel like you've been given such a wonderful gift that all of life is to be lived in a continuous rejoicing as to what God is doing in you through the work of the Holy Spirit. Take a deep breath now -- this moment is lived for God! And in a conference room on a Thursday and at a sporting event (remember when we used to go to those?) on a Saturday. It's all a gift back to God, all a chance to glorify God.
So live a life of integrity, not gloating about it, not rubbing it in others' faces... but focus on God, and the Holy Spirit will overflow into the world around you, flowing through you, pointing to God.
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