“As for other matters, brothers and sisters, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more” (1 Thessalonians 3:1-2)

How many times have you asked what the will of God is for your life? Me too.

We sometimes want God to tell us exactly what career to choose, house to buy, spouse….but, God doesn’t always give us a clear sense of direction in the way we want. Consider the lives of some of those who have gone before us.

Think about it. Abraham wandered around the Middle East for years. Joseph had a clear dream and sense of direction, but don’t you think he was surprised by how it all came about? Moses did not experience the call on his life until he was 80 years old. And that’s just some of the examples from Genesis.

The key, I think, is to seek what kind of person God wants us to be in whatever circumstances we find ourselves.

Paul begins with encouraging them to live so they live “in order to please God, as in fact, you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more”

Paul then describes what that more and more looks like –

“It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God;  and that in this matter no one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister. The Lord will punish all those who commit such sins, as we told you and warned you before.  For God did not call us to be impure but to live a holy life. Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being but God, the very God who gives you his Holy Spirit” (1 Thessalonians 3:3-8)

There’s much that Paul could have said regarding what a holy life looked like, but his example of holy living here is that we live our lives honoring God by avoiding sexual immorality.  In letter after letter, Paul addresses this subject, so we’re not the first group of people to live in a culture obsessed with sex.

It was a common theme in the first century and I think we would all agree that sexual immorality of all kinds is still an issue today.