03 - Praying with Paul

In the previous post we beagn to dismantle the first sentence and what it means for God to 'enable us'... let us further dismantle this first sentence by looking at what is means to live a life 'worthy of your calling.'

We can best understand this statement initially by asserting what it doesn't mean. We could easily interpret this verse incorrectly, arguing that in some way perhaps Paul was suggesting that the Christians in Thessalonica need to attain a certain level of godliness to become worthy Christians; that they would somehow EARN their right to be called by God. In turn they would be 'worthy of their calling.' This view is certainly not what Paul is trying to communicate...Paul makes it obvious everyone is a sinner and nobody is ever 'worthy to be called' in the sense that they are good enough by their own merit.

In Romans 8:30 it reads 'those he predestined, he also called...' and thus in some way the saving process (salvation) has already begun for those who have been called. If you have been called by God you have been saved (justified)and been made 'acceptable' by him. Thus the Thessalonian Christians could not be counted 'worthy of their salvation' by their own effort because, indeed we can say with confidence they already were saved.

Thus Paulis saying something very different, he is emploring his fellow Christians to live a life 'worthy of the one' who called them. Because they have been called, because they have been made right with God, there should be a profound affect on the way they live their lives. Carson himself writes 'Paul wants us to become what we are not, and prays to that end.' Thus becoming worthy of your calling is essentially an issue of stepping into Christian maturity. Are you going to step into the eternal values God has called you to? Remember citizens of heaven and sons of the most high God live very different lives to those who are not.

Carson indeed makes it very obvious in his text of what it means to step into Christian maturity...'we should become increasingly holy, self denying, loving, full of integrity, steeped in the knowledge and Word of God, delighted to trust and obey our heavenly Father.' This cetainly looks like a daunting list of things to live up to and acheive in our owns lives, however GOD IS THE ENABLER. Paul prays that God would enable us, not that we do it by our own strength but instead we acheive this things by the grace of God working in and through our lives. To step into Christian maturity and become worthy of your calling, is surely to step into a new life in Christ Jesus, which consumes more and more of the freely flowing grace of God each day.

I shall leave you with a final quote to reflect on, take a moment to understand what this fully means in light of what we have already discussed...'The greatest spiritual saints are not those who need less grace, but those who consume the most' (Dallas Willard).