Abound More and More- I Thessalonians 4:1

I Thessalonians 4:1
Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more.

George Müller said: "The primary business I must attend to every day is to fellowship with the Lord. The first concern is not how much I might serve the Lord, but how my inner man might be nourished. I may share the truth with the unconverted; I may try to encourage believers; I may relieve the distressed; or I may, in other ways seek to behave as a child of God; yet, not being happy in the Lord and not being nourished and strengthened in my inner man day by day, may result in this work being done in a wrong spirit."

                I was reading this and it just shocked me when I started reading the beginning part of this quote.  I read, “The primary business I must attend to every day is to fellowship with the Lord.”  Oh I agreed with that!  Very true! I went on reading, “The first concern is not how much I might serve the Lord…” I stopped.  WHAT? That’s unbiblical!  Of course I need to serve the Lord as much and as often as possible!  What is he thinking? But I went on, “The first concern is not how much I might serve the Lord, BUT how my inner man might be nourish.”  Then it hit me.  Ohhhh! I can share the Gospel, I can say words of encouragement and be a blessing to others….but so can unbelievers.

Many people KNOW the plan of salvation, the right words to say, but do not believe or accept.  If I do not have a good standing with my Heavenly Father, I have not talked with Him, spent time learning about Him and what He wants for me, I will not be strong and all the works I do are in vain.

The last part of our verse says this: “…so that ye would abound more and more.”  This verse is telling us that we are beseeched and exhorted, or urged and begged, through their example of how to walk and please God, to abound more and more.  We cannot abound (or be rich and well supplied) if we are not taking time to learn about Him!  We need to spend time in the Word, absorbing all we can to better learn how to walk and conduct ourselves in a way that would better please, worship, and bring glory to Him.  In doing this, we will have a more abundant and full life and my relationship with God will be strong, and serving Him will come when I am walking with Him and doing as He asks.