Read with Me
1 Thessalonians 3:11-13 (HCSB)
Now may our God and Father Himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you. And may the Lord cause you to increase and overflow with love for one another and for everyone, just as we also do for you. May He make your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints. Amen.
Listen with Me
Now that Paul had received the good news from Timothy and Silas, his relief finds expression in this prayer of praise and encouragement. Paul wants to give the brothers and sisters a bit more instruction by letter until he can be there in person. But before he did that, he prayed three specific things for them.
First, he prayed that God would clear a path for him to return to Thessalonica himself. This was going to happen, but not for a few years, during his third journey, which would take him back to Macedonia.
Next, he prayed that God would increase the agape love of the Thessalonians for each other until it absolutely overflowed. Paul understood very well that agape love is the only glue that will hold a Christian community together in times of trouble and persecution. No other love, not friendship, not brotherly love, not romantic love, not even the love of a mother or father for a child can provide that same glue, because self-interest and survival instinct can override those lesser loves.
Paul knew that the challenges and persecutions that the Thessalonians would face were only going to increase as their numbers and influence expanded. So, he prayed the best possible thing for them: more of God’s divine agape love.
Finally, Paul prayed that God would strengthen the hearts of the Thessalonian believers, not just so that they would become a become steadfast, but so that they would be holy and blameless before God. This holiness was essential to their spiritual growth and their success in standing strong in the face of pushback and even persecution, because it not only flowed directly from an active relationship with God, but it also enabled that relationship to continue uninterrupted.
Pray with Me
Father, these last two requests are something that we still need today, and something we should be praying into our lives and into the lives of our fellow Christians. All too often, we satisfy ourselves with friendship love in the Church, and we wonder why relationships break under the strain of hard times. Only true agape love will hold us together when times are challenging. And we still need not just “goodness” in some abstract sense. We need genuine holiness to keep our relationship with you robust and to keep the pathway open for your power to flow through our lives. Help me, Lord, to not only walk in these today myself, but also to pray them faithfully into the lives of all my brothers and sisters in Christ. Amen.