“God’s purpose in all His dealings with us is to make us grow into something higher. The greatest calamity that can come to a soul is to be satisfied with its present condition. – A.B. Simpson –

Twice in 1 Thessalonians 4, Paul stresses the “more and more” to those he was writing to in the church at Thessalonica. The “more and more” had to do with living a life pleasing to God and of expressing brotherly love (1 Thessalonians 4:1, 9). They are both characteristic of Christians. Some in Paul’s day took his teaching on grace to mean something it didn’t. They took it to mean that sin offered an opportunity for God’s grace to be magnified. That is not what Paul taught (Romans 6).

The Christian life is a progressive process of being made more and more like Christ. It’s very easy to settle into the routine of our Christian lives in which we become satisfied with our present condition instead of seeking a deeper fellowship with the Lord. This is neither God’s intention nor desire. The above quote is a reminder of that. Although God by His grace accepts us where we are, He never intends that we remain there, but instead that we grow more and more into the person He created us to be. This will not end until glory. God’s purpose is to make us grow into “something higher”. The “something higher” will never be what we work up inside ourselves, but only what the Holy Spirit works within us. Do you desire to be all God created you to be, to grow into “something higher” and live more for His glory? Is your heart and soul open to that kind of work by the Holy Spirit? I hope that it is because God has more yet to do in and through you.