A little while ago, I produced a verse by verse series in Philippians. I really enjoyed that exercise and have been wondering if I should take on another book. Well it turns out that 1 Thessalonians is the victim of my machinations, and hopefully, the thoughts produced by this fantastic book will edify and encourage the reader.
As with Philippians I am going to limit each post to one verse, and hopefully produce a short, succinct read for my friends who follow.
1 Thessalonians 3:7 for this reason, brothers, in all our distress and affliction we have been comforted about you through your faith.
From our last post, we learned that Timothy had returned to Paul, and informed him of the Thessalonian’s condition. You see, Paul had been anxious about those believers – yes the very same apostle who advised believers not to be anxious – but I think I understand how he could command believers not to be anxious (Philippians 4:6) and yet confess to anxiousness in verse 5 of this chapter. If curious, we dealt with this allowance for anxiousness on the part of the apostle in an earlier post. See 1 Thessalonian Bits – 3:5.
Nevertheless, Paul has been informed that the Thessalonians are living a life of faith and love, and that Paul is remembered well. They are longing to see him again.
What a comfort for a man who has risked his life to reach the lost, and that those few who adhered to his teaching are faithful to the message, and caring for the messenger!
It was years ago, when a brother, a preacher friend who was struggling financially (at least in my opinion) borrowed my old truck, and when he returned it, had filled it with fuel, and cleaned it up. I argued with him that I gave him the use of the truck expecting nothing in return, and that he shouldn’t have put so much gas in. He had children to feed and bills to pay.
I will never forget, as he looked me straight in the eye and said. “It is more blessed to give than to receive – do not take that joy from me!” I was young, and I didn’t quite grasp that concept well, but for the apostle, he found joy in the gift of the Thessalonians faith and love. They found joy in the service to the Master.
The Christian life is a life of faith where each believer may enter into blessing, and the route to all blessing and comfort is faithfulness to the Master. No matter your place in life, look to the Master, seek Him out, obey His precepts and when spoken to specifically about an action or decision , jump on the obedience bandwagon. As we do, the joy multiplies, and any apparent loss vanishes.
Paul found comfort in the Thessalonians faithfulness. They were faithful because they loved the Messiah. Paul ended up getting blessings simply because he had steered them to the Crucified One, who is the fount of all blessing!
It is a good life, no? God is good, and He is good all the time!
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