The One Who Calls You Is Faithful
“The one who calls you is faithful.”
That’s 1 Thessalonians 5:24, and it is now officially one of my favorite verses in scripture.
This entire 1 Thessalonians passage is beautiful, every phrase packed full of practical encouragement in the life of faith that somehow manages to rise above plain advice and reach a lyrical joy.
These are words you can write on your heart, words you can carry around with you through the day, words you can call up when your soul is hungry for light.
“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances,” Paul says. “Do not quench the spirit…hold fast to what is good.”
Those are lofty goals.
I wish to heck I did rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in all circumstances, but I can guarantee you I don’t.
There are days it’s more like “complain always, feel sorry for myself without ceasing, and make my own life more difficult in all circumstances.”
How do we live lives drenched with rejoicing, governed by prayer, and radiating gratitude?
Both the how and the why of it are all contained in that concluding phrase: “The one who calls you is faithful.”
This phrase has more than one meaning, and we can see it through all of our scriptures appointed for today.
“The one,” of course, in “the one who calls you is faithful,” is God.
But there is more than one way to look at God’s call. Continue reading