Always and Continually

Photo: prayer meeting © Adrian van Leen

Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else. Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not put out the Spirit's fire. -1 Thessalonians 5:15-19

Many times have we hear, read or listen to a sermon on being joyful and pray continually, and neglecting to read the verse before to give us the context of the passage. What keeps us from being joyful and pray continually? Resentments, wrongs, and wanting to pay others back for what they have done to us. This happens because our focus is what keeps us from our joy, so we continually think about who has wronged us.  The joy killers in our lives are the things which we choose to hold on too, and think about over and over. The small ones, like the driver who cut in front of us, the co-worker who talks about us behind our backs, or the friend who let you down. And the large ones, the spouse who cheated on you, the family member who abused you, or the friend who used you. The big and the small joy killers keep us focused on what happened, and we play them repeatedly in our mind, keeping us thinking about them continually. These are the things, which Paul is calling us to rise above and not act out on by paying others back, but to try to be kind to one another.

Who are you kind too? Who are you extending grace too in your life? We accept grace, but are we extending grace to others? Grace means unmerited favor, it means I cannot earn it, or work for grace. What do you do with the grace you have been given? Who do you extend unmerited favor too? Do you extend grace to those who treat you right, or do you extend grace to those who don't deserve it from you. By its definition, grace is to be given to those who don't deserve it, but we tend to give it to those who we believe deserve our grace. What are we teaching others by doing this, we are teaching others, if you treat me right, then I will extend grace to you. But if you treat me wrong, then you don't deserve my grace. If that is true then it is not real grace, because grace is unmerited. The deeper question is do we believe God acts the same way, does He despense His grace to us when we act right, and hold it back when we do wrong? If so, then it wouldn't be grace at all.

So how do we extend grace to those who don't deserve it from us? Extending grace to those people in our lives is hard, maybe impossible in our own strength. That is why we're called to pray continually. Our focus is not on what they have done, or on ourselves, by trying to extend grace in our strength, but it is an upward focus on Christ. We can extend grace to those who are hard to love by having an upward focus, by seeking God's grace so we can give it to others. Realizing that God is the judge, we are not the judge, jury and executioner.

Romans 12:14-21 state why, it says:

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

We are to mourn with those who mourn, weep with those who weep, and rejoice with those who rejoice. Which one is harder? Mourning, and weeping with them, or rejoicing when good things happen to them? Each one is very difficult, but we can do it because we know that God is the judge, God will repay, and God has not forgotten what has happened; our task is to love them. We must have an upward focus, and an outward focus, upward by praying continually and outward by loving continually.

Finally, we are called not to put out the Spirit's fire. We can do this by keeping our focus on the wrongs that have been committed against us; in addition, by not praying continually for them. Our joy is created when we are led by the Spirit, we are led by the Spirit when we continually pray and depend upon Him. When we forgive others who have wronged us, forgiveness is lived out when we are kind to those who don't deserve our kindness. Just as we are not deserving of God's mercy and forgiveness, that is what grace is about, giving undeserving favor, grace is given to us, and for us to give to others. So pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, so you don't put out the Spirit's fire.