Room to Grow

“Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more…”

1 Thessalonians 4:9-10

It seems like, more often than not, the Christian life is one of conviction. As we spend time in the Word of God, we continually see our sin and our shortcomings. We’re continually driven to our knees in confession and repentance.

This is good. We must be willing to acknowledge our sins. We must be willing to receive correction. We must live a life of daily repentance. And we must trust in Christ, each day, for the forgiveness of our sins.

However, every once in a while, we discover that we’re doing something well. We find that we’re doing the very thing God has called us to do. We must then consider our response to this finding.

In talking to the Thessalonians, Paul notes something good happening in the life of the church. They were demonstrating brotherly love. And, for this reason, they didn’t need to have anyone write to them on this subject.  They didn’t need anyone to teach them.

They didn’t need this because they’d been taught by God himself. The Lord had so worked in their heart that they were demonstrating this brotherly love. And they were doing so not only among themselves, but among the churches in their region.

Seeing that they were doing well when it came to brotherly love, what encouragement did Paul give them? He told them to keep doing so more and more. Even though they were doing well, there was still room for growth. There were still ways in which they could better express this brotherly love.

The same principle is true for us, as well. Even when we are doing well, even when we are obeying the Lord’s leading, we must do so more and more. There is still room for us to grow. We can always find ways to do so in a greater capacity.

We can never come to the point of thinking that we have it all together. We can never come to the point where we believe there’s nothing more we can do. We can seek God’s continued work in our life that we might carry out his calling in greater and greater ways.