Paul, Silas and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
2 Grace and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing. 4 Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.This is Paul's second letter and the church is growing in faith and love. I don't know the time frame between the two letters so I will randomly pic a year. One year from now will your faith and love increase to a point that people notice? Are you improved in you faith from last year?
5 All this is evidence that God’s judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering. 6 God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you 7 and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. 8 He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might 10 on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.
These people lived their entire lives and did not see this happen. This is a future promise. All of us who suffer for Christ will receive a reward...just not here on earth. The wicked will be punished for their evil...it just may take till after they are dead.
Remember folks we are talking about eternity. This life is a vapor in comparison. God is long suffering and patient. He gives people every chance to repent and come to him. So many wicked men and women are rich and powerful right now. It won't last and they will spend eternity in punishment if they do not believe in Christ's payment for their sin.
11 With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith. 12 We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Are you aware of someone who loves the Lord and is suffering? Pray for them as Paul prayed. Change the "you" in these verses to the name of the person you are praying for.
May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen.
"We boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring."
ReplyDeleteI am honored if I hear someone is boasting about my perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials I am enduring; it tells me that the Holy Spirit is evident in my life. All I can respond to that kind of boasting is "Praise the Lord"! It is not in my strength that such perseverance is possible.
"God is just; He will pay back those who trouble you"
I am not a vengeful person, nor do I hold grudges, so this statement bothers me. But God is a jealous God, an honorable God, and a loving God. He sees His children being persecuted and it raises His ire. If I reverse the point of view of God as a parent and how He will be directing His wrath toward someone who wronged His child (as well as toward someone who went against His will), I can understand it a little more.
"By His power He may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed be PROMPTED BY FAITH" (emphasis mine, obviously): This is my deepest prayer. That my every deed, thought, action, and desire for my life and the lives of those I love be for goodness...PROMPTED BY FAITH in the blessed hope of my Savior Jesus Christ.
Amen.