1:3 - Some people think that faith is a static thing - either you have it or you don't. Paul wants them to understand that true faith is an organic, ever-growing thing...you can always know God more and offer him more...love people more. He is continuing a theme he used throughout I Thessalonians.
1:5 - Paul says that their staying faith strong in the face of persecution is evidence to God's justice. Because the Thessalonians trust God no matter what comes their way, they become a piece of evidence for the rest of the world to see...that God is worthy of trust. They are able to have this peace and strength in the face of hard times, and their inhuman power to do this is evidence of God's peace and grace.
As you read through the second half of this chapter, it seems to bring up a question...if God is so just, why are His people going through this persecution? If God is just, why doesn't He judge the world now? Paul gives us a clue in Romans 2:4 (Go read it)...God is showing patience and grace with the unbelieving sinners of the world. He is offering them a chance to come into His kingdom. His patience puts Christians in the path of persecution, but it offers nonbelievers a chance at redemption. It's a fair trade. Persecution forces us to rely on God and trust in His justice...and patience gives the nonbelievers we know and love a chance at eternal life. Works for me!
1:9 - Paul lays it out for us...separation from God is eternal destruction. Hell is separation from God. God is love and life...existence outside of God's influence would result in hatred and death. I'll take door number 1 Alex!
1:11 - God may I live to be worthy of Your calling.
5 comments:
Msg 11 -12 - Because we know that this extraordinary day is just ahead, we pray for you all the time—pray that our God will make you fit for what he's called you to be, pray that he'll fill your good ideas and acts of faith with his own energy so that it all amounts to something. If your life honors the name of Jesus, he will honor you. Grace is behind and through all of this, our God giving himself freely, the Master, Jesus Christ, giving himself freely.
I know it’s kind of long, but I really like the act of praying that God will make us fit for what He wants us to be – that He will fill us with His energy.
“The beauty of grace is that it makes life not fair.”
What I am doing with my life to honor the name of Jesus? I pray that I will do more – that we will do more.
Peace,
j
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Yay...Matty-cakes! That's what I'm talking about!
(This is Brandon, by the way)
6God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you 7and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well.
It kind of seems like the writer is personifying consequences.. that's how i've seen it for a while anyway.. i think i used to be turned off to God because of these surface depictions of God as "the punisher" and "the rewarder," but now i see it as consequences and God kind of being one and the same.. as in "the law," which God set forth, and why the law applies to humanity.. it applies because it is the truth of God
I am so grateful for the trade. God allowing us to be vulnerable to suffering in exchange for grace/opportunities for others to come to Jesus. Through suffering, I grow and learn; I constantly remember that I am unworthy alone, and it is through Jesus that I gain value and purpose. I'll live with that all day...
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