Five Little Verbs and Three Little Words

SCRIPTURE:  Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil. 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22 ESV

THOUGHT: Earlier in his closing thoughts to the Thessalonians (covered earlier this week), Paul talks about faith, hope, love, kindness and goodness. All things I observed could benefit from patience, self-discipline, and long-suffering. But now, at the very end, he talks about the more supernatural side of things, things less visible than our actions.

We have a part to play in the abundance of the Holy Spirit allowed into our hearts and our gatherings, according to Paul. We’re certainly not in control of the Spirit, but we do have a responsibility to not quench it, to not shut down prophetic words, but to test them, and then hold fast to what the Spirit is doing and saying through our fellow Christian friends.

Look at those five, little active verbs in just three, short sentences: quench, despise, test, hold fast, abstain. Don’t put out the fire of Spirit due to your fear. Don’t have contempt for a word of truth from the mouth of someone filled with the Spirit. Know Scripture well enough (and know God well enough) that you can discern good from evil in words and actions, then hold fast the good and abstain from (don’t partake in) the evil.

It’s an acknowledgement that there will be evil, but we need to be wise enough to spot it, call it, and say ‘no thank you.’ Three little words that would have been helpful to Adam and Eve too.

PRAYER: Oh God, I am struck this morning by the invitation you offer us. From the beginning of our creation, you offered co-authorship of the story. We can choose between good and evil – but we find we cannot author anything good alone. Help us in our co-authoring, knowing you and knowing your Word well enough to discern – to test everything, holding fast what is good and abstaining from evil.