A Sanctified Life

S: ⁶ and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you. ⁷ For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life

~1 Thessalonians 4-6

O:  Since Paul has only spent a few weeks in Thessalonica, he writes to the Thessalonians to courage them to pursue a sanctified life. The gentles of Thessalonica turned away from idols to worship the one true God. The Thessalonians are still considered an infant church in which Paul orders Timothy to travel and check up on them. Even when one turns from their secular ways, it is easy for those to fall into temptation. Paul addresses this by encouraging the people to do no wrong to brothers and not to take advantage of them. Even though I've been a Christian for a long time, I still feel like I always try to find a way to take advantage of the system. I justify it by the small loop holes that exist or telling myself that God won't see this underlining issue of sin that I've committed. It sickens me how I fail so easily whenever Satan makes his move.

A: I need to myself apart. As much as I say I'm a Christian, I don't feel the part whenever I sin. Today i took advantage of the system to returning a broken device to Fry's, telling myself that they'll handle the RMA with the vendor. Even though its true that they will, its still dishonest of me to go through extra lengths to forge the serial numbers that were provided. Man I feel so wretched. God forgive me! I need to concentrate and hold firm to the Holy Spirits convictions.

P: Jesus forgive me of my wretchedness. I'm always sinning and letting you down. Help me to sanctify myself in which I won't blantantly take advantage of anyone. Help me to go about my actions in an honest way, so that people who aren't Christians can see your power in me. Forgive me for failing and I pray that the damages I've done in people's eyes would be forgotten. I rely on you.

In Jesus Name
Amen