Your friends are pretty important to you, aren’t they? Oh yeah, Mom and Dad get upset at times because you’re always on the phone. But, hey, they’re important! Friends are so important that it’s good to know how to make them and keep them. These verses tell how Paul made lasting friendships. He didn’t flatter. He didn’t say things just so others would like him better. He really cared about his friends. And he was willing to share personal things with them. You may not feel free to share with all the kids you know. But you can get close to a few if you treat them as Paul treated his friends.
Some of my friends and I have been disagreeing on what activities are really “sex” and what is just messing around. Does the Bible make this clear?
Friends in a library
Dear Friends,
1 Thessalonians 4:3–8 tells us we’re to live in order to please God: “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.”
God doesn’t want his loved ones trying to find a weak spot in the debate, like this activity isn’t “really” sex. If what you want to do isn’t holy and honorable, don’t do it! Live in order to please God. List the things you know aren’t holy and pleasing to God. Make a commitment to avoid them. Don’t go to parties where there will be alcohol or others doing the things on your list. This will help you succeed in your commitment.
Did you know that monkeys can’t be potty-trained? But people learn to control those functions. People can also be in control of sexual urges. God says to learn to control your body. That pleases him. It will also keep your life simpler. I have met lots of young people who were sorry they did sexual things. But I have never met anyone who was sorry to have honored God.
Jordan
It hurts when someone you love dies. You feel empty. You know things will never be the same again. Everybody grieves. But Paul says that Christians do not grieve “like the rest of mankind, who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13).
In the Bible hoping is not the same as wishing. It’s not like hoping your parents will buy you a sports car. In the Bible hope is being sure about something for which you have to wait. You know that what you hope for will happen because God has promised it.
When Christians experience the death of someone they love, they also experience hope—hope that when Jesus returns he will bring that loved one with him. They will be caught up and reunited. They will “be with the Lord forever” (1 Thessalonians 4:17). Nothing will ever again separate them from those they love.
1 Thessalonians
Hard Times.
How can you stand it when suffering or death comes? Paul wrote to the Thessalonian Christians to encourage them. They were worried about Christians who had died. Paul let them know that death isn’t the end. When Jesus comes, you’ll be reunited with the people you love.