Unshakable: Living Faithfully Through the Tough Seasons of LifeSample

Unshakable // Love In Action

The simplest way to measure godliness is to look at how we treat others. When we love, we’re like God - because God is love and loving relationships reflect His heart for this world. So when we start to understand the incredible dignity and worth that God sees in each person, it has to change how we relate. It’s inevitable - the more I discover how much God loves me, the more I start to see others as an opportunity to share the love I’ve been given.

God’s love is counter-cultural. So much of this world is about a transactional approach, investing in relationships that we think will be mutually beneficial - or even worse, taking advantage of people by using them to get what we want. Worldliness reduces people to objects we exploit for our benefit, but godliness cares about others and their needs, even when there’s nothing that I’ll gain from it. Loving others humanizes them - it invests dignity and worth into them. And that’s the beauty of the Gospel - it’s the ultimate act of love, redeeming our humanity.

The thing Paul wants the Thessalonians to realize is that they have been designed for love - to receive love and to give love, to operate in relationships that have been purified from the corruption of self-interest. He uses a technical term to describe this when he explains that God wants us to be ‘sanctified.’

Sanctification is a concept that was drawn from Israel’s history. When they first started worshipping as a nation, God’s people had to make all kinds of furniture and utensils to be used in the tabernacle/temple. Every item that was going to be used had to be cleansed, literally ‘set apart.’ That’s what the word means, ‘sanctified’ for a higher purpose. Each object was special, no longer to be used for mundane or ungodly things. They were now ‘holy,’ set apart from the ordinary. The priests couldn’t take a bowl home and use it for dinner because it was now sacred. It wasn’t just a bowl, it had a higher purpose, a deeper worth.

So when Paul says that God’s will is for us to be sanctified, this is what he has in mind. He’s reminding us that we’ve been given a whole new focus of being, set apart to live for a spiritual purpose. We’ve received the ‘Holy’ Spirit, who coaches and empowers us into a life of holiness. It’s no longer appropriate for us to live an impure life dominated by selfishness and lust. True spirituality is deeply loving, it resists the temptation to take advantage of others and abounds in selfless generosity. That’s what we are made for.

This is how Paul addresses sexual ethics - by placing it within the context of a calling to holiness. God requires us to evaluate our approach to relationships and sex through this grid. Do I know what would be best for the other person? Is what I’m doing loving or selfish? Am I taking advantage of them in any way? These are questions that God takes incredibly seriously, and so should we. Of course, a ‘sanctified’ life is bigger than just our attitude to sex, but it’s a great place to start thinking about how to love well.

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An unshakable life is lived out with an unshakable love. Our calling is to love others even through life's hard seasons and storms. It can be easier to justify selfish behaviors and attitudes when life is difficult, but God has something better for us. As we discover more of God’s love, the Holy Spirit gives us the capacity to keep loving others in practical ways. And sometimes, that’s the best way to move forward when things are tough - because we've been saved and set apart to love.

1. Holy Spirit - please show me if I’ve been taking advantage of anyone without realizing it.
2. Are there any opportunities to love others that I’ve been neglecting?