Brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God; for you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor,
1 Thessalonians 4:1-4 (NKJV)
Are you abounding in the Lord or do you feel like you are stuck in a rut? Someone once said that a rut is like a grave with both ends kicked out of it. If there is anything that I know about a rut, it tends to get deeper and deeper.
My dad used to tell me stories of when he was young. He told me, when he would drive in the roads (they were not paved highways) that ruts would be so deep that he would take his hands off of the steering wheel and the old car would drive itself down the way in the ruts. It must have been the earliest version of the self-driving car. But I digress—again.
The question is, are you “abounding” in the Lord?” Or, are you following another rut? Paul indicates that there can be no end to one’s abounding in the Lord. How do we do that? How do we avoid the ruts of life? How do we get out a rut once we are in it.
We must love the Lord supremely. We have to walk in obedience to the Lord at all times. There can be no room for rebellion against the commands of the Lord. We have to stay away from the lifestyles of sinners. We have to rebuke the enemy of our souls when he tries to entice us to give a little. We must live a life that is totally dedicated to God. And, we must remember that our body is the temple of the Lord and that we must never defile the temple. “If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.”
How do we get out of a spiritual rut? We must worship and praise the Lord with greater intensity. Ruts might have been okay for letting the car drive itself down the road but not for our spiritual lives. Grab the steering wheel and call on the Lord. He will get you out of the rut. Yes, He will, Amen.
