1 Thessalonians 3:12–4:10

¹²May the Lord make your love grow. May it be like a rising flood. May your love for one another increase. May it also increase for everyone else. May it be just like our love for you. ¹³May the Lord give you strength in your hearts. Then you will be holy and without blame in the sight of our God and Father. May that be true when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.

Living in a Way That Pleases God

4Finally, brothers and sisters, we taught you how to live in a way that pleases God. In fact, that is how you are living. In the name of the Lord Jesus we ask and beg you to do it more and more.

²You know the directions we gave you. They were given by the authority of the Lord Jesus.

³God wants you to be made holy. He wants you to stay away from sexual sins. ⁴He wants all of you to learn to control your own bodies. You must live in a way that is holy. You must live with honor. ⁵Don’t long to commit sexual sins like those who don’t know God. ⁶None of you should sin against your brother by doing that. You should not take advantage of him. The Lord will punish everyone who commits those kinds of sins. We have already told you and warned you about that. ⁷God chose us to live pure lives. He wants us to be holy.

⁸So if you refuse to accept my teaching, you turn your back on God, not on people. God gives you his Holy Spirit.

⁹We don’t need to write to you about love among believers. God himself has taught you to love each other. ¹⁰In fact, you do love all the brothers and sisters all around Macedonia. But we are asking you to love each other more and more.