“Test all things; hold fast what is good.” (1 Thess. 5:21, NKJV)
Exercise can be exhilarating and infuriating. Exhilarating in that it feels good to get the blood flowing, the muscles working, and the joints flexing. Exercise can sharpen mental acuity and enhance overall feelings of well being. But it can also be infuriating in that when we miss a week or two because of time away, any gains made can seem to vanish, particularly as we age.
As Christians, however, we are called to constantly exercise our faith, something we do when we handle trials or run the race set before us. Though it seems we experience setbacks when we fall back into sin, we are to continue to press on with our eyes fixed on Jesus.
One aspect of our spiritual fitness has to do with our spiritual intake. We are to partake of a steady diet of truth, unadulterated with the additives and fillers of worldly wisdom. Reading and feeding on God’s Word is a primary way we commune with our Lord Jesus Christ and receive grace and guidance for the conduct of our lives.
The Thessalonians were confused and dispirited. Paul has written to them to encourage them in the faith and to establish them on the solid ground of God’s truth. In so doing, he has satisfied their longing and buttressed their hope.
Now as he closes his letter, the apostle positions them to drink of the refreshing waters of God’s grace and truth. He leads them to that fountain with four exhortations.
First, he says, “Do not quench the Spirit” (1 Thess. 5:19). Imagine unrolling a garden hose and turning on the outside spigot so that the water flows. What would happen if you took that hose in both hands and bent it? Either the water flow would stop or be reduced to a trickle. That’s what Paul has in mind by quenching the Spirit. We dam up the rivers of living water that irrigate our lives through Jesus Christ, either through neglect or hardness of heart.
Second, Paul tells us not to “despise prophecies” (v. 20). Here is he reminding us that we need the constant nourishment and hydration of the word of God. That word is living and active, and is inspired of the Holy Spirit and used by Him as a means of grace to feed us and equip us. The world may ridicule and revile the Bible as some sort of archaic, unenlightened document but we must not. Just read Psalm 119 for a discursus on the value of God’s Word and His work in our lives through it.
Third, Paul calls us to be discerning. “Test all things; hold fast what is good” (v. 21). There is a push nowadays for additives to be removed from processed food, not merely because in many cases they are unnecessary but they could be harmful. As Christians, we are to take careful stock of what we consume because it could be contaminated with the carcinogens of the world’s teaching, often undisclosed on the label and offered as unadulterated truth. John cautions us likewise: “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1).
Finally, the apostle urges us to “abstain from every form of evil” (1 Thess. 4:22). In view here is what we put into practice. The word for abstain is the same as Paul used when he said that we are to abstain from sexual immorality (1 Thess. 4:3). Evil is neither to be part of our mentality nor of our behavior.
How do we decide what is evil? Our culture may costume evil in the regalia of righteousness but it is our call to test it in the light of God’s Word. The world held captive by the evil one may revile us for abstaining from what is evil and holding fast to what is good. As Peter says: “For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles—when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you” (1 Pet. 4:3–4).
When the world labels us “full of hate” may it be because we have taken to heart the admonition to “hate what is evil; cling to what is good” (Rom. 12:9, NIV84).
How does Psalm 1 provide us a template for spiritual fitness?
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
