One of the most amazing phenomena of the American culture is the All-You-Can-Eat-Buffet. It is a seemingly endless smorgasbord of delicacies with more choices than room on one’s plate. I have never met a person leaving a buffet restaurant saying, “I’m still hungry; I just couldn’t find anything I wanted.”
Yet, there are so many people who have a truly endless supply of good blessings offered to them from God who walk away hungry, unfulfilled or dissatisfied.
“Finally then, 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 please God…for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another…But we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more…” 1 Thessalonians 4:1, 9-10
Abound more and more…increase more and more…how can we do this? I hear so many people saying that they are lacking…lacking faith, lacking courage, lacking strength, lacking wisdom, on and on. But the Lord desires for us to have more and more… more blessings, more love, more grace, more peace, on and on. The Lord’s smorgasbord is overflowing with all we could want and so much more. He truly delights in pouring out upon us His blessings in “good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over” (Luke 6:38).
So then, how do we abound more and more? There are several keys in this passage that give us clues to abounding (see if you can spot them too): walk to please God, abstain from immorality and fraud, love others, lead a quiet life, don’t gossip or be busybodies (see also 2 Thessalonians 3:11), and work hard. As you do these practical things, the Lord will pour out grace upon grace and you will have a powerful testimony to the world.
“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 15:58
I pray that you will be filled to overflowing with all the blessings and holiness and goodness and grace of God in your lives today as you learn to abound more and more in what He has called you to do. This is called “sanctification”.
“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13
I challenge you to go back for more from God’s bountiful table of blessings and share your overflow with those around you who say they are lacking!