Read with Me
1 Thessalonians 3:6-10 (HCSB)
But now Timothy has come to us from you and brought us good news about your faith and love and reported that you always have good memories of us, wanting to see us, as we also want to see you. Therefore, brothers, in all our distress and persecution, we were encouraged about you through your faith. For now we live, if you stand firm in the Lord. How can we thank God for you in return for all the joy we experience before our God because of you, as we pray very earnestly night and day to see you face to face and to complete what is lacking in your faith?
Listen with Me
Paul was in Corinth when Silas and Timothy arrived from Thessalonica (Acts 18:5). And they came with good news.
First even though Paul had only been in Thessalonica for a bit more than three weeks, the Thessalonians were very favorably impressed with him, with his faith, with his walk with God, and with all that he had taught them after they turned to the Lord. And they were hoping that he could return to the city soon.
This news, of course, filled Paul’s heart with joy. He was relieved, and it caused his mind to rest easier, even in the midst of the challenges that he was still facing everywhere he traveled.
Timothy also brought news that the Thessalonian Christians were standing firm in their faith. They had not buckled to the pressure to turn away from their faith in Jesus and had in fact deepened their faith. That response had been enabled in large part by Paul’s initial teachings that persecution was not only possible, but likely if they chose to faithfully follow Jesus.
But that good news did not mean that Paul could back off in his prayers for these new believers. Quite the opposite! He understood that it was precisely at times like this that the enemy would increase his attacks on the believers, striving to weaken their faith enough to cause some, even just a few, to turn away from Jesus. And those few could then be used as a catalyst to cause even more of them to doubt, and possibly turn away. So, Paul wanted to assure them that he was praying for them to be steadfast, and also that an opportunity would become available for him to return to Thessalonica to see them in person.
Pray with Me
Father, I agree that nothing makes a pastor’s heart gladder and more fulfilled than to see his or her people standing firm in their faith, even when times are hard. That steadfastness enables the trials to do their work of purifying and strengthening the believer, so that they can step up to a new level of maturity and resilience. Lord, help me to never pull back when times are challenging, but, like Paul, to fully enter into the battle, so that my life, like Paul’s, can serve as a model for those who are following me. Amen.