Read with Me
2 Thessalonians 1:3-5 (HCSB)
We must always thank God for you, brothers. This is right, since your faith is flourishing and the love each one of you has for one another is increasing. Therefore, we ourselves boast about you among God’s churches—about your endurance and faith in all the persecutions and afflictions you endure. It is a clear evidence of God’s righteous judgment that you will be counted worthy of God’s kingdom, for which you also are suffering,
Listen with Me
The road of following Jesus had not been easy for the Thessalonians since they had trusted in Him. We know that Paul had had to leave the city under cover of darkness because of the fierce opposition from the jealous Jews (Acts 17:5-10), who raised a mob to oppose Paul and the work he was doing.
But most do not consider the opposition that the new Christians had to continue to endure in the aftermath of Paul’s departure. Some of these new believers were gentiles. But others were Jews who were now treated with suspicion or even hostility by their family members, friends, and business associates, because they were now seen as heretics who had abandoned the faith of their fathers.
But the report that Paul had received told him that the Thessalonians had done more than merely survive the hardships they had passed through. Their challenges and suffering had actually refined their faith in Jesus, making them more reliant on His presence, resulting in the growth of divine agape love in their hearts.
Paul saw that growth in faith and love as a sure sign that the Thessalonians had truly crossed over from death to life. And, as a result, he could reassure them that their future in God’s kingdom was secure. Even though they were passing through a hard time now, they would be vindicated in the end, and Jesus’ return would find them saved and in God’s hands.
This was not designed as merely a pat on the back for these still relatively new Christians. It was designed to encourage them to stay the course, to remain faithful to God and to His kingdom. Paul knew that the persecutions they were experiencing now were likely to get worse before they eased up, and he didn’t want any of them to give up and fall away in the process.
Pray with Me
Father, this is a necessary reminder to all of us today. Often, we have been told that if we follow You, our days will all be happy and blessed. This implies that if we are suffering, it must signal something spiritually amiss in our lives. Paul knew, both from revelation and from personal experience, that the truly blessed life is often filled with persecution at the hands of those who oppose the gospel. He understood that true evangelism is invading territory that has been coopted by the enemy, and freeing those he has taken captive. And he knew that the enemy won’t take those actions lying down. He will push back with all the fury he can muster. But if Your people stand firm and keep working, even when the enemy’s barrages of hatred and violence are falling all around us, the pain and suffering we experience will serve to purify our devotion to You, as well as our commitment to one another. And they will increase the agape love You have put in our hearts. Thank You, Lord, for this encouragement today. Amen.