1 Thessalonians 2:13 NLT

Therefore, we never stop thanking God that when you received his message from us, you didn’t think of our words as mere human ideas. You accepted what we said as the very word of God – which, of course, it is. And this word continues to work in you who believe.

As a disciple we are invited to learn to “give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thessalonians 5:18, NIV UK 2011). Turning to thanksgiving is a great antidote to the temptation to express anger or fear which I will later regret. It does demand a retraining of the brain. I have to recognise my instinctive responses when faced by challenging behaviour or situations. Am I an optimist or pessimist by nature? Glass half-empty or half-full? If I’m a pessimist, it’s a steeper learning curve. Then, I must acknowledge who I am, but refuse to accept this is God’s will in Christ Jesus for me.

I turn to the Jesus prayer when I sense I’m reacting inappropriately. It gives me breathing space, reminds me of my walk with God and connects me with a different part of my internal memory.

Expressing gratitude encourages others, and ourselves. Thanksgiving increases our positive sense of well-being and reduces stress. I’ve found it soon becomes a habit and I begin instinctively to thank everyone I meet; the person at the supermarket till, the person selling me my rail ticket, the individual administering wine to me at communion. Thanksgiving is a habit that can be learned. It’s one that replaces my instinctive, negative reactions with one that encourages and builds people up. It connects me with a positive outlook on life.

It may be time to work at unlearning some instinctive reactions that are unhelpful to managing your overall mood and in navigating life. It is a habit worth forming for the benefits are felt within yourself and make a big difference to life. It also encourages others.

QUESTION: What are you thankful for today?

PRAYER: Gracious Master, help me to respond with grace, kindness and thankfulness to the challenges I will face today.

1 Thessalonians 2:7b-8 NLT 

Or we were like a mother feeding and looking after her own children. We loved you so much that we shared with you not only God’s Good News but our own lives, too.

Another characteristic of the Christian disciple is service. Jesus is our model, sacrificing everything to reveal the person of God to us and to lead us back to friendship with God. It came with Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice. Jesus is the template for practical service.

In my younger days, my teaching was framed by oughts and shoulds. I was rigid, and demanded of others things that I struggled with myself. I learned that platform offered the perfect position from which to cast stones with little danger that any might come back. I demanded of others standards of behaviour that I was not consistently living myself. The word “hypocrite” springs to mind.

Serving means that like a mother who loves her child beyond words, I nurture life. I do not make simple demands or hand down prescriptive truth from the platform. No, I roll my sleeves up and serve at any time in response to the particular needs of the person I’m nurturing.

It’s amazing how parents allow their routines to be turned upside down when caring for the needs of their newborn baby. This is the picture Paul uses to describe Christian servanthood. For 30 years I lived in an extended household and here our lives were open to scrutiny. No hiding the arguments with my wife. No way of avoiding being found out for being lazy with my household responsibilities. The greatest way to witness to the gospel is to open up my life for others to view. Anyone can put on their Sunday best for short periods.

Serving may seem a pressure and an unattractive demand. It’s neither. As in all God’s invitations, you choose the degree to which you say yes. However, serving is critical to Christian discipleship; it is the way of Jesus, in whose footsteps we are to follow.

QUESTION: Consider the ways you serve others and how open your life is for others to view.

PRAYER: Thank you for the joy of serving others. Help me to mirror your sacrificial friendship in my day.

1 Thessalonians 2:4b-6 NLT

Our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives of our hearts. Never once did we try to win you with flattery, as you well know. And God is our witness that we were not pretending to be your friends just to get your money! As for human praise, we have never sought it from you or anyone else.

The primary purpose for any disciple is to please God. In our media-soaked world, where reality shows take ordinary people and fast track them to fame and fortune, many want to both be noticed and affirmed. Celebrity status is a goal for it appears to offer access to a materialistic lifestyle. I note that Jesus is described as becoming poor so that others might become rich (see 2 Corinthians 8:9). This is the primary purpose of servanthood; to meet the needs of others.

I served as an evangelist and as a church leader for more than 25 years. The lure of the platform captured me. I love the performance art of preaching. Sadly, I assumed the applause was for me. My leadership was sincere but also self-indulgent. I turned church ministry into an idol at whose feet I worshiped in the name of God.

It took a while to “detox” from that style of Christian living and leadership. I realised, instead of seeking to please myself, my inner drives and psychological demands, I was to please God. This first meant appreciating what God requested of me. There is no generic discipleship profile. Similarities, most certainly, and key principles. Yet, we are each different so the application is as unique as our own God-inspired image. And I can only please God as I set aside self-image for the God image birthed from my conception.

Pleasing God is your primary purpose. It is not to please others. Nor is it to please yourself. Seeking flattery or finance from ministry is in fact countercultural to the kingdom. Pleasing God demands close attention to the detailed motives that drive my thoughts and actions.

QUESTION: Flattery, pretence, seeking attention – is God challenging you about this?

PRAYER: You see my hidden motives and desires. I want to please and honour you today. Help and remind me of this goal.

1 Thessalonians 2:2-3 NLT

You know how badly we had been treated at Philippi just before we came to you and how much we suffered there. Yet our God gave us the courage to declare his Good News to you boldly, in spite of great opposition. So you can see we were not preaching with any deceit or impure motives or trickery.

Becoming a Christian disciple demands a choice. As we grow and become conscious of life, we recognise the need to make choices. We learn the challenge of temptation, which incites us to make questionable choices. These may disadvantage another unfairly, bully or abuse. We discover making decisions is not easy and we have to weigh up the possible outcomes as well as develop a mature understanding of our own vulnerabilities.

I have a tendency towards avarice that I have to watch. This is focused around knowledge; I want to understand everything within my environment and beyond. This can lead to defensiveness and secrecy. Knowledge is only valuable if it improves my ability to make good choices. I take what I learn and seek to identify behaviours that are the product of my human fracture. My choice is to bring these to God, to share with those I trust and to determine a plan to walk out of the unhelpful aspects of my fractured self.

The great enemy of choices is procrastination. This is an inability to make a choice. It can feel comfortable to recognise where a choice must be made, so I’m enlightened, but by not making that choice I’ve not disturbed my status quo. How often do we hear and read things and God speaks? We see clearly what we are to do, yet we procrastinate. The moment passes, we avoid the choice yet congratulate ourselves upon having seen the need for such a choice. Like Israel we can settle for the discipleship of the desert instead of the promised land.

QUESTION: Have you clearly identified a choice to be made but have failed to act?

PRAYER: Help me to be honest with you and myself about the choices I face, and strengthen me today to move ahead with you into your plans and purposes for my life.

1 Thessalonians 1:2-3 NLT

We always thank God for all of you and pray for you constantly. As we pray to our God and Father about you, we think of your faithful work, your loving deeds, and the enduring hope you have because of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Prayer is the most critical element in realising God’s kingdom throughout the earth. Paul describes how the Thessalonians are well prayed for. The fruit of their life and witness is evidence of that prayer. Prayer is not a distress flare for when things go wrong. Prayer creates the context within which God’s will is done “On earth as it is in heaven” (Luke 11:2, NKJV). Here Paul celebrates the faithful work, loving deeds and enduring hope of the Thessalonians. If people pray for me, this is what I’d love my fruit to resemble.

Often prayer is pushed into the background as an essential, if uninspiring, aspect of Christian discipleship. But without it, none of us can deepen our friendship with God. Without it, chaos increases, built upon the confusion that blinds the minds of apparently intelligent legislators and business leaders alike. I don’t know of any historic spiritual awakening without prayer – sometimes decades of prayer. That’s why I place it at the top of my list of characteristics of a Christian disciple. Never the most glamorous, but without prayer there can be no effective discipleship.

You may sincerely believe in prayer. Yet your prayer practice is the measure of that sincerity, for it’s where sincere belief becomes concrete action. You don’t pray because you should, but because you want to.

As a contemplative, I range across a variety of forms of prayer. Yes, at times I tire, even grow bored. Yet the action continues and is now deeply embedded in my spiritual muscle memory.

QUESTION: Is prayer a priority in your life?

PRAYER: Almighty God, thank you for the gift of prayer, the opportunity to speak to you and to listen to you.