“FINALLY, BRETHREN, WE beseech and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you learned from us how you ought to live and to please God, just as you are doing, you do so more and more” (1 Thess. 4:1). Paul was in Christ, but he knew how to be in people. He knew how to make them and to make them grow. He complimented them for what they were, and then told them what they needed! He complimented them, and then complemented them. Listen to this: “For what thanksgiving can we render to God for you, for all the joy which we feel for your sake before our God, praying earnestly night and day that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith” (1 Thess. 3:9–10). “What thanksgiving can we render to God for you . . . supply what is lacking in your faith.” He patted them on the back with one hand, and pointed his finger with the other to what they were going to get and going to be. That was spiritual genius. If we have that we know how to make men.
Paul repeats the same attitude: “just as you are doing, you do so more and more.” You are doing fine, now do more and more! These converts were subjected to all the stimulus of Christ and to all the stimulus of Paul! And rightly. The life in Christ is a growing life or it is not in Christ. As Christ is the eternally creative, so He is eternally creating us anew. The eternal cry of the Christian is, “More.” His attitude is, “I’ve seen so much, I want to see more”; “I’ve tasted so much I want to taste more”; “I’ve become so much I want to become more.” This “more and more” will stretch beyond the grave and forever, for the finite will forever approach the Infinite, but will never arrive. That growth will be our eternal joy, and there is no joy greater than the joy of creative growth. There is room for infinite growth in Christ.
My Lord and my God, I feel I have taken hold of the Inexhaustible, the Unexplorable. Yet how intimate and satisfying! Yet how inspiringly unsatisfying! I am on the stretch and yet I rest. I have everything and want more. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: More and more—this is my life’s motto and my life’s movement.
