1Th 2:3 For our exhortation was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile:
1Th 2:4 But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts.
When we speak of God do we concern ourselves with whether or not we are saying things that are pleasing to our listeners? Is it our intention to be pleasing to them? Is our objective to be men pleasers? Seriously, is this our desire, to be pleasing to others? How many of us strive to please others? Not the pleasing that comes from loving someone, but the pleasing that makes us feel good about ourselves, is this the sort of pleasing we are into? Doing good to look good to others, so they think we are good, is this the sort of life we lead? When we get all caught up in trying to please OURSELVES through the accolades of others we've lost sight of the ONLY one we are to truly please. We KNOW that we cannot do anything falsely to please God. While our fellow man might not be able to see through our selfish desire to gain their good graces, God sees through any and all subterfuge we dare to attempt towards Him.
We must LIVE not to PLEASE our fellowman, but to PLEASE GOD, to do what is pleasing in His sight with the CLEAN heart that ONLY HE can give to us.
The apostles here is talking about witnessing to other of the gospel of Peace, of salvation found in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. When they speak they used NOT deceit! When they speak they use NO unclean, sinful lying words. When they speak they used NOT guile, no untruth crossed their lips.
God ENTRUSTED them with the gospel, with HIS TRUTH and that is the ONLY TRUTH They speak. They didn't care if the men listening liked what they were saying. They didn't try to sugar-coat their message in order to make those listening happy. They didn't go to the gentiles and start making up stories filled with pagan deities in order to garner their attention. They did NOT do a single thing to compromise the TRUTH of God! Those listeners might have wanted to hear how they could find eternal life through their own favored gods; they may have wanted to hear that they just had to work hard and be good to be saved. Many people want to hear pleasing things, we call it natural and it is to our flesh nature. To hear that none of their former gods could save them eternally; to hear that they can't possibly work to save themselves wouldn't be pleasing but the apostles didn't care because the truth given to them by God demanded that they adhere to the truth and only then could they please God. Lies DO NOT please God. When we speak to please men rather than God we can succeed, but not eternally.
Does this mean God wants us to be bullies? Does this mean God wants us to force feed people His word? Does this mean we have to be nasty in any way in order to get our Savior's truth across? No. Can you imagine Jesus acting that way? Seriously, can you? Don't say, 'Well, I'm not Jesus.', because even though that is true, we are to follow HIS EXAMPLE! Speak the truth! Speak it plainly! If people do NOT want to hear the truth then you keep on going, you keep on preaching to others. If NONE want to hear it, you just keep on living your life as our Savior would want you to live it- IN LOVE- NEVER in constant anger, constant malice, constant upset, constant bickering, constant animosity. Our ACTIONS truly can speak louder than ANY words we might feel we have to speak.
1Th 2:3 For our exhortation was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile:
1Th 2:4 But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts.
We are allowed of God - to be put in TRUST with the gospel.
Amazing, so incredibly amazing! We are entrusted with something so wondrous! Please God help us to spread YOUR word as YOU would have us, not as we would have it. PLEASE LORD, please let us speak YOUR GOSPEL, YOUR TRUTH that YOU have trusted us with!
HELP US to PLEASE YOU, not people!
YOU FATHER GOD, YOU try our HEARTS, try them o' LORD, try them, purify them with YOUR LOVE.
More tomorrow all by the GRACE of GOD!
IN HIS LOVE!
1Th 2:4 But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts.
When we speak of God do we concern ourselves with whether or not we are saying things that are pleasing to our listeners? Is it our intention to be pleasing to them? Is our objective to be men pleasers? Seriously, is this our desire, to be pleasing to others? How many of us strive to please others? Not the pleasing that comes from loving someone, but the pleasing that makes us feel good about ourselves, is this the sort of pleasing we are into? Doing good to look good to others, so they think we are good, is this the sort of life we lead? When we get all caught up in trying to please OURSELVES through the accolades of others we've lost sight of the ONLY one we are to truly please. We KNOW that we cannot do anything falsely to please God. While our fellow man might not be able to see through our selfish desire to gain their good graces, God sees through any and all subterfuge we dare to attempt towards Him.
We must LIVE not to PLEASE our fellowman, but to PLEASE GOD, to do what is pleasing in His sight with the CLEAN heart that ONLY HE can give to us.
The apostles here is talking about witnessing to other of the gospel of Peace, of salvation found in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. When they speak they used NOT deceit! When they speak they use NO unclean, sinful lying words. When they speak they used NOT guile, no untruth crossed their lips.
God ENTRUSTED them with the gospel, with HIS TRUTH and that is the ONLY TRUTH They speak. They didn't care if the men listening liked what they were saying. They didn't try to sugar-coat their message in order to make those listening happy. They didn't go to the gentiles and start making up stories filled with pagan deities in order to garner their attention. They did NOT do a single thing to compromise the TRUTH of God! Those listeners might have wanted to hear how they could find eternal life through their own favored gods; they may have wanted to hear that they just had to work hard and be good to be saved. Many people want to hear pleasing things, we call it natural and it is to our flesh nature. To hear that none of their former gods could save them eternally; to hear that they can't possibly work to save themselves wouldn't be pleasing but the apostles didn't care because the truth given to them by God demanded that they adhere to the truth and only then could they please God. Lies DO NOT please God. When we speak to please men rather than God we can succeed, but not eternally.
Does this mean God wants us to be bullies? Does this mean God wants us to force feed people His word? Does this mean we have to be nasty in any way in order to get our Savior's truth across? No. Can you imagine Jesus acting that way? Seriously, can you? Don't say, 'Well, I'm not Jesus.', because even though that is true, we are to follow HIS EXAMPLE! Speak the truth! Speak it plainly! If people do NOT want to hear the truth then you keep on going, you keep on preaching to others. If NONE want to hear it, you just keep on living your life as our Savior would want you to live it- IN LOVE- NEVER in constant anger, constant malice, constant upset, constant bickering, constant animosity. Our ACTIONS truly can speak louder than ANY words we might feel we have to speak.
1Th 2:3 For our exhortation was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile:
1Th 2:4 But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts.
We are allowed of God - to be put in TRUST with the gospel.
Amazing, so incredibly amazing! We are entrusted with something so wondrous! Please God help us to spread YOUR word as YOU would have us, not as we would have it. PLEASE LORD, please let us speak YOUR GOSPEL, YOUR TRUTH that YOU have trusted us with!
HELP US to PLEASE YOU, not people!
YOU FATHER GOD, YOU try our HEARTS, try them o' LORD, try them, purify them with YOUR LOVE.
More tomorrow all by the GRACE of GOD!
IN HIS LOVE!
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