This letter is from Paul, Silas, and Timothy.
We are writing to the church in Thessalonica, to you who belong to God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
2 May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.
3 Dear brothers and sisters, we can’t help but thank God for you, because your faith is flourishing and your love for one another is growing. 4 We proudly tell God’s other churches about your endurance and faithfulness in all the persecutions and hardships you are suffering. 5 And God will use this persecution to show his justice and to make you worthy of his Kingdom, for which you are suffering. 6 In his justice he will pay back those who persecute you.
7 And God will provide rest for you who are being persecuted and also for us when the Lord Jesus appears from heaven. He will come with his mighty angels, 8 in flaming fire, bringing judgment on those who don’t know God and on those who refuse to obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will be punished with eternal destruction, forever separated from the Lord and from his glorious power. 10 When he comes on that day, he will receive glory from his holy people—praise from all who believe. And this includes you, for you believed what we told you about him.
11 So we keep on praying for you, asking our God to enable you to live a life worthy of his call. May he give you the power to accomplish all the good things your faith prompts you to do. 12 Then the name of our Lord Jesus will be honored because of the way you live, and you will be honored along with him. This is all made possible because of the grace of our God and Lord, Jesus Christ.
Tori's Comments:
The same church, the same strengths.
He repeats about what will happen when Jesus returns, interesting.
The way we live should honor God. In everything I do today, I need to think to myself, 'does this honor God?". And if not, should I be doing it?
If this is a view of such a successfully growing church, do I see the same themes in my own life? The same growths happening exponentially?
"your faith is flourishing" Is my faith at a standstill or growing? I often use my lack of faith YET as an excuse to why I don't trust God in certain areas of my life, but how will my faith grow if I never take a step out onto the water? Peter's faith definitely must've grown by walking on the water, but he didn't do that because he was finally ready, but because he was so focused on who Jesus was and wanted to believe so much he went for it.
"your love for one another is growing" This almost seems like a challenge. I think we get to a point where we draw our boundaries, saying we will love others this much, but any farther would be too much of a sacrifice. But Jesus loved us so much He sacrificed His life, and we're supposed to follow His lead. Take this as a dare. Always try to love harder, love more, with each day. If this were are goal, to love more today than we did yesterday, how different would the reputation of the church be?
Terrie's Comments:
"May he give you the power to accomplish all the good things your faith prompts you to do"
When God gives us the power to accomplish his will in our lives then Jesus Christ is honored even more by our lives. When we live lives of faith and honor to God then in turn it bring honor back to God. It is all made possible through God's Grace... God's unmerited favor towards us because of what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross.
When we decide to honor God with our lives he empowers us to do that through His Holy Spirit that lives within us as believers.
Take our personal comments or leave them. We would love to hear what stood out to you about today`s passage and how it encouraged you. Tell us in the comments below!
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Please keep all comments respectful. We want to remember that each of us is at a different place in our walk with God. This is a place for us to share openly about what has been revealed to us as we open up Gods word and to learn from others. Please take every opportunity possible to build each other up in love :-)