1 Thessalonians 4:1-12

1 One final word, friends. We ask you - urge is more like it - that you keep on doing what we told you to do to please God, not in a dogged religious plod, but in a living, spirited dance.
2 You know the guidelines we laid out for you from the Master Jesus.
3 God wants you to live a pure life. Keep yourselves from sexual promiscuity.
4 Learn to appreciate and give dignity to your body,
5 not abusing it, as is so common among those who know nothing of God.
6 Don't run roughshod over the concerns of your brothers and sisters. Their concerns are God's concerns, and he will take care of them. We've warned you about this before.
7 God hasn't invited us into a disorderly, unkempt life but into something holy and beautiful - as beautiful on the inside as the outside.
8 If you disregard this advice, you're not offending your neighbors; you're rejecting God, who is making you a gift of his Holy Spirit.
9 Regarding life together and getting along with each other, you don't need me to tell you what to do. You're God-taught in these matters. Just love one another!
10 You're already good at it; your friends all over the province of Macedonia are the evidence. Keep it up; get better and better at it.
11 Stay calm; mind your own business; do your own job. You've heard all this from us before, but a reminder never hurts.
12 We want you living in a way that will command the respect of outsiders, not lying around sponging off your friends.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.