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MEDITATION:

Written by Michael Wittmer, a contemporary ministry leader, pastor, and professor of theology. This is an excerpt from his  book “Heaven is a Place on Earth.”

Paul concludes his first letter to the Thessalonians by giving his readers something to shoot for in their Christian life. Paul commands these new believers “to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.” Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, earning a decent wage while tending to your vocations? How utterly ordinary! Paul, is that really all you expect from Spirit-filled believers? Pretty much. Paul confides to Titus that “our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good, in order that they may provide for daily necessities and not live unproductive lives.”  Why were such ordinary duties important to Paul? Because they alone made the gospel seem credible. Paul could preach all day long about the life-changing power of Christ, but he would convince few people without firsthand evidence that it really works. So he encouraged his followers to become good neighbors, responsible citizens who faithfully serve society by minding their callings and caring for the needs of others. No one and no job was too insignificant, for even slaves—the least influential people in Roman society—could still “make the teaching about God our Savior attractive” when they quietly and swiftly carried out their master’s orders. These common Christians apparently impressed their friends and family, for their new faith spread so swiftly through the empire that in just a couple of centuries it had conquered the entire Roman world. Come to think of it, maybe a community of normal Christians doing ordinary things for Christ can change the world. It happened once. It just might happen again.

PRAYER:

Written by John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892), an American Quaker poet and abolitionist.                                                                                                                      

Dear Lord and Father of humankind,

Forgive our foolish ways;

Reclothe us in our rightful mind.

In purer lives Thy service find,

In deeper reverence, praise.

Drop Thy still dews of quietness,

Till all our strivings cease;

Take from our souls the strain and stress,

And let our ordered lives confess

The beauty of Thy peace.

Breathe through the hearts of our desire

Thy coolness and Thy balm;

Let sense be dumb, let flesh retire;

Speak through the earthquake, wind, and fire.

O still, small voice of calm.