The Big DON’T DO When Your Life Is Going Well
Sometimes it’s the little truths, tucked into Scripture in places I easily miss, that can change the trajectory of our lives. I’ve read my Bible at different paces and in multiple translations, and slowly savoring a less-familiar translation is a practice I find immensely impactful.
What verse stopped me this morning? 1 Thessalonians 4:1. Between the lines is a cautionary don’t do:
Don’t grow complacent.
Don’t lose your eager anticipation.
Don’t dilute your expectancy.
Don’t deafen your discernment.
In short, do not coast.
To paint the context, Paul’s letter commends the good, faithful lives of the Thessalonians. They were thriving. Imitating Christ. And God was deeply moved.
Nevertheless, Paul’s words carry an urgency and authority as he encourages the Thessalonians to keep doing what they are already doing well.
Let’s imagine what it might look like for us today:
Quiet hunger that dusts off the Bible and searches for Jesus on the pages.
Unexplainable boldness to bring God up in casual conversation.
Open hands, opened home, opened-up life.
Sincere humility that points all the glory to God.
Gratitude spilling over everywhere.
Reverence that bends the knee or bows the head.
Prayers only God could answer.
The Don’t Do When You’re Thriving
Hold onto that picture of you deeply alive, faith thriving–whatever it looks like for you specifically–as we read Paul’s words:
So finally, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus, we ask you, we beg you to remember what we have taught you: live a life that is pleasing to God as you are already doing. Yes, we urge you to keep living and thriving in that life!
Do not veer from your faith, Paul implores. Do not slacken your pace. Do not give up the worthwhile pursuit of the way of Christ. Do not coast.
Is Paul simply stating the obvious, or is he aware of the human tendency to lose sight of the mattering things when life is going well? To step into self-trust when our need for God no longer feels imperative?
Perhaps the biggest threat to thriving is apathy.
Have you found this to be true?
Stop reading your Bible and your hunger for it dissipates.
Stop listing gratitude and it’s harder to find gift in the hard.
Stop praising God and fear settles in.
Stop praying and God feels farther away.
Stop investing in your marriage and it begins to fray.
Stop your workout rhythm and it’s difficult to pick it back up.
Stop your healthy eating habits and old cravings come back.
The law of inertia comes into play when we pause forward momentum in anything. We either keep learning, growing, becoming–or our gains begin to dissolve.
There is no stand-still.
It’s forward or backward.
Growth or regression.
Thriving or declining.
Better Than Good
When life is going well, our alertness can grow lax. We trust our habits to carry us even if we dial back our intentionality.
The change is inevitable but subtle. We may miss the effect of coasting on our faith until we hit a crisis and discover God’s felt distant for quite a while.
Paul wanted better for the Thessalians. Better for you and I.
And his invitation stands the test of time:
When God feels close, especially then, keep pursuing Him.
When His Word awakens your soul, especially then, return to it daily.
When God heals the holes in your heart, especially then, invite Him deeper.
When God stirs prayers in your spirit, especially then, pray throughout the day.
When God overflows through you, especially then, lean hard on Him with humility and expectancy.
In short, keep going.
Because the big DON’T DO–to coast–can disguise itself as rest.
True rest refreshes our souls and connects us more deeply to Christ, the Vine.
I am the vine, and you are the branches. If you abide in Me and I in you, you will bear great fruit. Without Me, you will accomplish nothing.
Abiding is an active, engaged sort of rest. It can be slowing down so we can still our hearts before God and better listen. It might be stepping away from even good things that make us distracted and stressed. It might be squelching lies about who God is or the way He loves us.
But the true mark of real rest is that it fills us up with more of God. This is rest that neither numbs us or makes us feel worse. It’s enlivening and refreshing–like a drink of clear, cool water when you’re so thirsty you can’t think about anything else.
You might be familiar with Jesus’s offer in Matthew 11:28-30, but today, let’s read from a translation you probably didn’t memorize in Sunday School.
Are you weary, carrying a heavy burden? Come to me. I will refresh your life, for I am your oasis. Simply join your life with mine. Learn my ways and you’ll discover that I’m gentle, humble, easy to please. You will find refreshment and rest in me. For all that I require of you will be pleasant and easy to bear.
Oasis. We get to rest here. With Him. In Him. So He can fill us to brimming-over. So that Christ in us spills everywhere.
There is no joy like the joy we have in Christ. No peace, no strength, no protection like what He supplies. And there is no purpose as life-giving as joining God’s mission to reconcile people everywhere to Himself.
Maybe we sell ourselves short and say life is as good as it will get. But God’s got boundless more. His vision for your life is one of fruitfulness. He calls you closer, closer, closer still. Asks you to open up a little bit more, to Him and the people in front of you, so the work He is doing in you can point others to Him.
I’ll leave you with this prayer:
A Prayer For You As You Do Not Coast
Lord, when life is going well, help us to not give up our pursuit of You. When we’re tempted to take our foot off the gas pedal and coast, fill us with urgency to lean even harder into You. You are our oasis. We rest in You, because of You, through You, and for You–so we might fill and spill over.
In Your heavenly name, Jesus, we pray. Amen.
Just a friend over here in your corner,
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