Living to Please God
Tom Shrader opens in 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8, explaining that Paul's instruction to 'walk and please God' calls believers to a life that accommodates itself to God's opinions, desires, and interests rather than the world's. He addresses the will of God at length, arguing that Scripture reveals God's moral will clearly but does not promise a discoverable specific will for every individual decision, freeing believers to make wise, scripture-informed choices. The bulk of the teaching focuses on sexual purity as a concrete expression of sanctification, contrasting the sexual immorality common in the Greco-Roman world with God's design for sex within heterosexual, monogamous, lifelong marriage, and closing with a seven-part framework for growing in Christlikeness.
“A timeless God doesn't produce dated material.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: 1 Thessalonians
Recorded: 2000 at East Valley Bible Church
Duration: 39 min
Themes: sexual purity, pleasing God, holiness, God's will, self-control, obedience, marriage, Christian living, struggling with sexual temptation, young adult, new believer, single person, married couple, questioning God's will for my life, husband, college student
Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8, 1 Corinthians 6:20, Ephesians 4:17, Hebrews 13:4, John 17:17, Acts 2, Philippians 1:6
Theological Themes: sanctification, becoming holy, biblical ethics, moral will of God, sexual immorality, 1 thessalonians, scripture authority, christlikeness
Full Transcript
Introduction: Paul's Letter to the Thessalonians
Paul is writing to the church at Thessalonica. Thessalonica was a city where Paul stopped on a missionary journey. When he was there, he shared the Gospel with those who would listen, a church began out of that work, and he stayed to teach for a brief time — some believe it was just a matter of weeks, but certainly not much more than that. Now he writes back to them. This is the first letter we have recorded by the Apostle, dated about 51 A.D.
The occasion of this writing is Timothy coming and reporting to Paul the results of his reconnaissance mission — to go and see the status of the church at Thessalonica. How are they doing? What is happening? Timothy brings back a great report. Paul commends them for their — as we saw in chapter 1 — their work of faith, their labor of love, and their steadfastness of hope. He reminds them of the ministry he had there, and then reminds them of the difficulty that often accompanies ministry and always accompanies the Christian life as well.
The Call to Walk and Please God
Now in chapter 4, Paul begins to summarize. He says, "Finally" — not that this is his last thought, but he is beginning to close this letter. He says, "Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God, just as you actually do walk, that you may excel still more. For you know what commandments we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus."
Paul says, at the end of verse 2 and in the beginning of verse 1, that these are not his thoughts, not his ideas, not his impressions, not his instinct at work. This is God's message to them. Paul is not speaking his own words — he is speaking what God has for them. He wants them to receive this instruction, to learn these things, and here is what he wants them to do: learn how they ought to walk and please God.
The word "ought" is most frequently translated "must." This is not optional. Paul says he is going to give them instruction and teaching so they know how they must walk. When he uses the word "walk," he is not describing physical movement from one point to another. The idea of walk here is to speak to the regulation or the conduct of one's life. He is saying: regulate your life, conduct your life following this instruction in a way that is pleasing to God.
The word translated "please" means literally to accommodate oneself to the opinions, desires, and interests of others. Consider what Paul is saying: this is God's instruction for how you must live and behave so that you please God — you accommodate yourself to His opinion, His desires, and His interests. What is important to you becomes what is important to God. The agenda for your life is God's agenda. Seek first His kingdom, and all these other things work themselves out.
Excelling Still More: A Life That Overflows
When we live this way, Paul says we will excel still more. The idea there is overflowing — not merely meeting all the requirements, but exceeding them. Life will overflow as we follow the instruction God gives us on how we are to live. We spend an awful lot of time trying to make life far more complicated than it really is, but this life is not that difficult. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:20, "You have been bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God with your body." We ought to live in a way that is overflowing — an abundance of actions, thoughts, and desires that please God.
Matthew Henry says this: "It is not enough that we abound in the truth of the gospel. We must abound in the work of faith. We must not only persevere to the end, but we should grow better and work more evenly and closely with God." There should be a progression in my life — a sense in which I was at one place a year ago and I am further along now, closer to God than I have ever been. I should be able to say that each and every day. As God works in our lives through His Spirit — the Holy Spirit He has given us — there ought to be in our lives an abundance of good works. Paul closes this section by reminding us that the Holy Spirit was given to us by God, and if you are a Christian, you are here today with the Holy Spirit indwelling you.
There is a debate raging in the Christian community today about the whole idea of lordship — whether simply believing is enough to be saved. But is that what you hear Paul saying? No. Paul is saying: I believe, and because I believe, my life is transformed.
The Will of God and Sanctification
Look at what Paul says in verse 3: "For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality." There are two topics in that verse that are very important — the will of God, and the whole idea of sexual conduct. Let us first address the will of God, because in my experience most men and women, students, and children who are Christians want to know God's will for their life.
God's Will for Your Life
A man told me he would really love to understand the whole idea of God's will for his life. That question is easy for us to answer, because we immediately point to Gary Friesen's book *Decision Making and the Will of God*. I know it was out of print for a while, but it is back in print. I went to the little bookstore we have here, and indeed there was a copy, so I took it — and, very important next step, paid for it. I don't get this stuff free either. I paid for it and then gave it to him.
I think his question represents the questions on the hearts and minds of a lot of Christians: what is God's will for my life? It is probably one of the most frequent questions we get. If you really want to study the topic, *Decision Making and the Will of God* is an excellent book for that. A couple of years ago I also did a tape on this subject that you can order at prioritylivingaz.org, and I think if you order it they will just send it to you. That is more in-depth than what we are going to do today, but let us just address it in general terms.
Three Ways We Use the Phrase
When we talk about the will of God, we typically use that phrase in three different ways. The first is God's sovereign will, which by definition is mysterious — I cannot know it. The way God sovereignly works is simply not knowable to me.
The second is God's moral will for my life. That I can know, and I have it right here, from Genesis through Revelation. This is God's moral will for my life.
The third way we use the phrase is God's specific, knowable desire for my life — as it applies to where I should work, where I should go to school, where I should live, who I should marry, all of those issues.
What the Bible Actually Teaches
Here is what I want to suggest to you. While we use that phrase in those three ways, the Bible really only speaks of two: God's sovereign will and God's moral will. I do not believe there exists a knowable individual will for your life. I don't think Scripture teaches that.
We talk about it a lot, and you have people praying about God's will, but the operative word is *knowable* — how do you actually know? I had a fellow call me one day who was so excited. God had brought him a new job, it was a great job, God had put it all together, and he couldn't miss it. A year later he not only lost the job, it was on the front page of the paper. I called him just to offer a little comfort, and he said, "Boy, I really messed that up. I missed God's will for my life." I said, "How do you know? Maybe God thought you were proud and you needed to be humbled."
Here is the problem. If it goes the way I want it, then we say that must be God's will. You and I are continually seeking after this knowable individual will of God that I don't think exists and I don't think you can know.
Making Wise Decisions
We see it all the time. Someone gets an opportunity to go to work at Intel, Motorola, or Sperry and agonizes over what God wants them to do. Or the great one: who does God want me to marry? So how do you actually make decisions?
Let me use marriage as an illustration, because it is a perfect one. The thinking goes: God has the right girl out there, I have to figure out who it is, and there are three billion women in the world. Am I going to date them all? Some of you are trying — that is not the best way.
The first thing to do when facing an important decision is to examine your own life. Am I in a wise decision-making mode? Is there sin in my life? Is my fellowship with God as healthy as it could be? Is there known sin I am just living with? Because if so, I am not going to make a wise decision. We are trying to make a wise decision, and we ask what God has to say — and we ask our friends what they think.
So back to marriage. What does God say? He says quite a bit about a potential mate, not by name, but He says this person should know Jesus as Lord and Savior — I can only marry a believer. And I would think it a little foolish to simply ask, "Do you believe?" and have her say, "Well, is it important to you?" and you say "Yeah," and she says, "Sure, I believe." I want a little more than that. I want a follower of Christ.
So you begin to develop a grid. You find someone who is a follower of Christ. Scripture says you have to love her, so she should be someone who is lovable. She is to submit to you, so you need someone who you know will be in that spirit of submission. Scripture says you are to be together forever and that your marriage is to be a model to others. You put all of this together with common sense — someone you can actually get along with. So here is what you do: you get the grid, you put the candidates through the grid, you take the ones who make it through, and then you marry the prettiest. It is not even hard to think about.
Do you see that principle? Instead of applying it, we have people wringing their hands. We had a student last year who received three or four scholarships, and rather than rejoice that God had given her three or four good options, she was scared to death she was going to choose the wrong one.
Four Negative Consequences of This Misunderstanding
Let me give you four things that happen in your life in a negative way as a result of this misunderstanding — this pursuit of finding God's knowable individual will.
The Frustration of Seeking a "Perfect" Choice
You are almost always frustrated when you approach God's will this way. You are frustrated not because you are looking for a needle in a haystack — in my mind, you are just kicking around in a haystack. There is no joy. God has given you three job opportunities, and you are scared to death that you are not going to find the right one, and you are failing to see the joy in the circumstance. That leads to a third problem: you do not thank God. Rather than trying to figure out which one God wants, you ought to be saying, "Father, thank You for this opportunity."
As long as you are in His moral will, you are free to do whatever you want to do. There is great freedom in that. But because you are frustrated, there is no joy, and you fail to thank God, you seem to be in this endless search — and so there is no contentment.
Here is exactly what happens. You have these job opportunities: Intel, Motorola, Sperry. Finally, you think it through, do all this work, and take the job at Intel. You are there about three weeks, and it is just hard. It does not fit right. You go, "I knew it was Motorola. I was pretty confident it was Motorola, but Jim Harper told me it was Intel, and so I listened to Harper. I am never listening to Harper again." So you call the guy at Motorola and ask, "You fill that spot yet?" He says no. You say, "Save it for me."
So now you go to Motorola, and you are there three or four weeks, and things are not going smoothly, and deep down inside you think your gut was telling you it was Sperry all along. You call the guy at Sperry, and he says they just had someone quit and there is a spot available. You go — and then you find hardship there too. You are looking for an idyllic world where everything is smooth and everything is perfect. You are looking for something that does not exist.
Freedom in Decision-Making
Let me say it again. The key word here is "knowable." Does God have somebody out there for you to marry? I do not know. But here is what I do know: when you say "I do," that is God's person for you. You do not have to look at the other almost three billion people out there to figure that out. You can make these decisions freely. That is God's will for your life.
Sanctification: God's Specific Will
Now Paul says there is something specific — specifically, that you abstain from sexual immorality. He talks about sanctification. That word can scare us off a little bit, but what he is really talking about is holiness. When we talk about sanctification, there are two elements to it. One is positional sanctification: before God right now, I am holy and righteous, even though in terms of my progression that is not yet fully visible. Positionally, I am sanctified. But practically, there is a progression of sanctification — I am becoming more holy.
This morning I was over in the information center, and today is Justin Kuyper's first birthday. A year ago I was in the hospital holding him — just this little kid. Today, for the very first time, he took his very first steps. His mom was thrilled. I said, "My kids were barely through the alphabet when they were one, so I guess that is pretty good." It is good that the little kid can walk.
Here is the point. I can remember in my mind where Justin was a year ago, and I can see where he is today, and I can see the difference. He has got a lot of teeth — I had to look. If you were born again spiritually a year ago, I should be able to see a year of progress in your life right now. Just as Justin progressed physically, you should progress spiritually. That is sanctification. That is conforming to the likeness of Christ in your life.
You want God's will for your life? Here it is: that you are sanctified. Paul gives a specific illustration of what that looks like — that you abstain from sexual immorality. We will talk about what that means in a moment, but notice what an important thing this is that he addresses here.
The Cultural Context: Thessalonica, Rome, and Sexual Morality
Remember the context. Paul is writing to the church at Thessalonica. There are two characteristics of that society worth noting. First, in William Barclay's words, chastity was an unknown virtue to them. Everything goes. And marriage was more disposable in that time than even now.
To the Jews, theoretically, there was a very high view of marriage. It was said that a Jew must die rather than commit murder, idolatry, or adultery. But in fact, divorce was very easy for the Jew. The law said that a man could divorce his wife if he found some "uncleanliness" or "some matter of shame." The difficulty was in defining those terms. The stricter rabbis confined that definition to adultery alone. But the more liberal teaching widened its scope to include such matters as spoiling dinner by putting too much salt in the food, going about in public with a woman's head uncovered, talking to men in the street, speaking disrespectfully of her husband's parents in his presence, being a brawling woman — which was defined as a woman whose voice could be heard in the next house. Needless to say, the more liberal view was embraced even by the Jews.
How about the Romans? This is fascinating. In the first 520 years of the Republic of Rome, there was not a single —
Abstaining from Sexual Immorality
Seneca wrote that women were married to be divorced and divorced to be married. Divorce had become rampant in Rome. The Greeks were similarly filled with immorality. One of their ancient writers ties both of these points together when he said: "We keep prostitutes for pleasure. We keep mistresses for day-to-day needs of the body. And we keep wives for the begetting of children and for the faithful guardianship of our home. As long as a man supported his wife and children, there is no shame whatever in extramarital affairs."
That is the world into which Paul was speaking. You can see why he goes right to this issue. He is saying to you and me: you live differently. There should be a progression in your life. This settles the debate about whether a person can simply say they are a Christian and not see their life change. The answer is no. There will inevitably be life change.
What is that life change? You should abstain from sexual immorality. Paul says there ought to be life change, and he goes right to it. He says you ought to be countercultural. In the society at Thessalonica, where anything goes sexually, there ought to be purity in your relationships. In a culture that says you can divorce anyone for any reason, he says no — you should abstain from sexual immorality.
Defining Sexual Immorality
What does he mean? He is talking about anything that is a perversion of God's design. So often when we get into this area of sex and you come to a church — and I suppose we would be considered a somewhat fundamental, orthodox church — it can feel Victorian and prudish. Let me be clear: sex is good. Sex is good within the confines that God placed around it, and that is marriage. Anything outside of that marriage relationship is a perversion of God's design.
Take premarital sex. If you are here today, you are not married, and you are sexually active, you have perverted God's sexual plan. We are very good at spotting this when it comes to sixteen-year-olds, but somehow we think it only applies to teenagers. This applies all through life. It does not matter whether you are 16, 26, 36, 46, 56, 66, 76, or 86 — the point is that you are to be sexually pure.
Extramarital sex is a perversion. If you are involved sexually with someone other than your spouse, you have perverted God's design of sex. Homosexuality and lesbianism are likewise a perversion. Premarital sex, extramarital sex, homosexual sex — they are all perversions of God's design, and that is what matters.
So when we try to figure out whether we should have same-sex marriages, the answer is straightforward. It does not matter what the culture says. It does not matter what the latest wisdom is. It does not matter what the latest study from Stanford says. God, who designed marriage, says it is to be heterosexual, monogamous, and lifelong. That is the plan for marriage. Anything other than that is a perversion — and it is not a matter of phobia. These all go together as perversions of what God designed.
A Word of Pastoral Encouragement
Paul says to the church at Thessalonica — and I believe he says it to us as well — you need to stay away from this. You should abstain. You should flee sexual immorality. I want to put on my pastor's hat here, because I know that in all four of our services today there are men, women, and students who have violated this. Maybe you are sexually active right now as a single person.
Let me tell you something very important: you can be a virgin again. Not physically — that cannot be undone, and that sin needs to be confessed. But you can stand clean before God. We have a man in one of our studies who was very sexually active for years. Nine years ago he became a Christian, and in those nine years he has not been physically intimate with another woman except for one occasion where he kissed someone. He would tell you: I know physically I am not a virgin, but I have gone before the Lord. It is never too late.
If you are involved in an affair, if you are involved in sex outside of marriage, it is not too late. Stop. A man in one of our studies came to me two weeks ago and said, "Tom, I just broke off an affair I had carried on for years, and I thank God for the strength to do that." If you are involved in homosexuality or lesbianism, it is a perversion — stop. God will give you the strength to stop. God is not going to ask you to do something you do not have the strength to do, Christian.
Holiness and Honor as the Hallmark of the Christian Life
Paul progresses. He says in verse 4 that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor. The Living Bible renders it helpfully: "Then each of you will control your bodies in holiness and honor." That is how you are to live.
He says this should be the hallmark of the Christian life — we should be holy and we should be pure. In a world that says it is fine, and even mocks you for being the one who holds the line, it is still right for you to stand and say — not in some obnoxious way, but simply with your life — that your life is to be pure and holy. I will promise you this: your life will be miserable if you deviate from it.
He then gives a negative alongside that positive. The positive is to live holy. The negative is this: do not live in lustful passion like the Gentiles do. He is referring to the pagans — those who do not know God. See the contrast he is drawing.
Walking Differently from the World
Your life and mine should be visibly distinct from those who are lost — there should be a clear difference. Paul says essentially the same thing in Ephesians 4: walk in a manner worthy of your calling. Then in verse 17 he says this: "This I say therefore and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer as the Gentiles walk."
Don't walk like they do. Paul gives four characteristics of pagan thinking. Number one, they are futile in their mind. Their rational processes are distorted, inadequate, and vain. They cannot figure out a moral issue — they simply do not see it.
Four Characteristics of Pagan Thinking
That inability to see leads to the second characteristic: they are darkened in their understanding. They are excluded from God; they have cut themselves off from Him. Have you seen this in your own friends? You try to explain what God has for life, and they say, "I don't get it." At the end of those conversations they do not understand what you are saying. They are alienated from God.
The third characteristic follows as a consequence: they are callous. They are desensitized. That is what sin does. The first time you mess around with it, there is fear, worry, and anxiety — but after a while it gets easier and easier.
I was watching a preacher on television the other day who illustrated this point vividly. He walked over, opened a box, and pulled out a large boa constrictor, wrapping it around himself while it moved its head around, looking right at him. His point was this: a couple of months earlier he could not bring himself to touch that snake, but over time he got comfortable touching it, then holding it, then picking it up, then allowing it to wrap itself around him. What a picture of how sin works in your life. Things you could never have imagined doing, you do once, then again, then again, until they become comfortable.
The Self-Centeredness Behind Sexual Sin
This is what the pagan looks like. Their minds are dark, they are alienated from God, and their hearts are callous. Desensitized to sin, they simply give themselves over and do whatever they want, practicing impurity with greed. The context Paul is writing in covers all parts of life, but here we are specifically talking about sex.
Why is someone involved in sex outside of marriage — in premarital sex? Not because they genuinely love the other person, but because they care about themselves. That is what all sin does: it leads back to self-centeredness. If you are a high school student involved in sex, you are not thinking about your mother or your father or even the other person. A husband who is unfaithful to his wife is being a selfish person — all he cares about is himself, even when he frames it as, "My wife doesn't meet my needs." Someone involved in homosexuality or lesbianism is, at root, consumed with self. That is what all sin is: greed and self-focus.
Notice how perfectly this folds back into what Paul is writing. He says, "Do not be like the lustful passion we find in the Gentiles," and then states that "no man transgresses or defrauds his brother in this matter." The word translated "defraud" carries the idea of wronging another person. There is no such thing as two consenting adults coming together in private with no one else affected. You bring every other relationship with you into that moment.
The Consequences Reach Further Than You Think
If you are messing around on your spouse, consider what happens when your children find out. Think of the pain, the sorrow, the bitterness. How quickly will they conclude they want nothing to do with what you have been preaching to them? All at once, they blow off you and everything you stood for. And even if you somehow avoid those relational consequences, the Lord Himself avenges this. Hebrews 13:4 says, "Let the marriage bed be held in honor and be undefiled. Fornicators and adulterers, God will judge."
The reason is plain, stated in verse 7: "For God has not called us to the purpose of impurity, but to sanctification." God called us to salvation, and within that salvation He has called us to live a pure and holy life — to look more like Christ today than we did a week ago.
Rejecting This Is Rejecting God
Consequently, and this is how Paul closes the passage, "he who rejects this is not rejecting man, but God who gives His Holy Spirit to you." If you are one of those Thessalonians hearing Paul's letter and you think you can set this teaching aside, understand that you are not setting aside a man's opinion — you are disregarding what God Himself has to say.
If you are sitting here today thinking, "Abstain from sexual immorality — I don't think so; after all, it's the year 2000," you need to understand something. They were saying the exact same thing in 51 AD. They were saying it in 314 AD. This has been said in every generation. Truth is truth. A timeless God does not produce dated material.
Trusting God
If you are listening to this and rejecting it, that is the natural defense mechanism that comes with a dark mind. You are not rejecting Paul — you are rejecting God Himself. God has called us to live a life that is distinctive from the world around us, different.
In this process of sanctification, I want to give you seven things that I think are included in it. Number one is being able to trust God. It is to take God at His word, to not battle and not argue, to trust Him, and to understand the assurance that comes with that. "He who began a good work in me will continue it until the day of Christ Jesus." Why? Because He said so. If I call upon the name of the Lord, I will be saved. Why? Because He said so.
At Haley's graduation the other night, it was a natural time to think about her life. When I think about Haley, I think about Sarah and the kids, and there are times in the lives of the kids where I know there was stuff they didn't want to do, or stuff they wanted to do, either way. They would want to talk about it or try to understand it, and finally I would say to them, "Let me just tell you something — do it because I said so." Is that the reason? That is exactly the reason. Sometimes you need to hear those same words: you do what God says because He says so. He is God, you are not, and He knows what is best for you.
Growing in Knowledge of God
I need to not only trust Him, I need to grow in my knowledge of Him. Central to this idea of being Christ-like is obedience, and coupled with obedience is knowledge. I need to understand who I am. I need to understand who Christ is — why He came, why He lived, why He died. What about the resurrection? How does the virgin birth fit in? I need to understand that I have access to God through His Son Jesus. I need to know this.
That leads me right into studying the word of God. If I am going to trust Him and know Him, I have to study His word. Jesus says in John 17:17, in the true Lord's Prayer, "Sanctify them in truth; Thy word is truth." So I am sanctified when I study the word of God.
Do you study it? It is so encouraging to see people come in here with Bibles — and not just Bibles open to Acts and First Thessalonians because we are studying them, but Bibles that have been opened and marked. I went on the East Valley Bible Church website this week, and I went to the high school ministry page. There was the list of what you need for camp, and the first item was: notebook Bible. It does not matter where you are — you have to study this word. You are kidding yourself if you think you are going to grow to be a man or woman of God without studying the word. It simply cannot happen.
Prayer and Worship
As I trust Him and know Him, as I begin to study His word, my life is filled with prayer and worship. There is an attitude in my life where God speaks to me through His word, and I respond to Him in prayer and worship. My worship is my adoration — thanking Him for who He is and for what He has done. I confess to Him my sin, I thank Him for who He is, I bring my petitions to Him.
Do you see the progression? As I trust Him and know Him, that comes as I study Him. As I study Him, I move to prayer and worship.
Fellowship and Serving Others
Because I have a new relationship with God, I now start to have a new relationship with the people around me. That is what we saw in Acts chapter 2. This was a brand new church — the very first church. In the midst of all of it, they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, to prayer, to communion, and to fellowship, and they began to serve one another. Those who had much sold what they had — their possessions — and gave to those who did not. They served them.
My friend Larry Wright puts it this way, and it is pretty well said: "Our title is impressive — Ambassador for the Lord Jesus Christ. My job description, not so impressive — slave." We love to play the card that says Ambassador for the Lord Jesus Christ. We do not like the flip side that says servant.
Living with an Eye on Eternity
I am growing more like Christ as I trust Him and know Him, as I study His word, as I pray and worship Him, as that renewed relationship with God begins to affect my other relationships — and now I fellowship, and now I begin to serve. I do all of this with one eye on eternity, understanding that Christ will come again.
What is the motivation? What is the thing that allows me to persevere? What keeps this present world in perspective? It is knowing that Christ will come again. That is exactly what Paul talks about next week — the idea that Christ is coming again. What is that day going to look like? What will it be? Is it important to know? Why? All of that is coming next week.
Father, please help us see this — and not just see it, but to follow You. God, help us understand that Your Spirit is in the process of changing our lives, making us men and women, students, and children who conform to Your likeness and Your image, who live not for ourselves but for You. God, we pray that we would be a people who trust You because we know You, who are committed to the study of Your word, and that as students of who You are, we are moved to prayer and worship and our relationships begin to change. Our life changes. There is fellowship with other believers. There is serving — not just them, but a lost and dying world. God, remind us that Your Son Jesus will come again. And if we do not live until then, we will die and still face eternity. God, let us live today in the context of understanding eternal principles.