Reading: 1st Thessalonians 2:9-13
1st Thessalonians 2:12 – “We pleaded with you, encouraged you, and urged you to live your lives in a way that God would consider worthy.”
In the week’s Epistle reading, the call is to live a life worthy of God’s call. As we witness to our faith, our words, actions, and thoughts should reflect God’s love and our calling to the world. In the first four verses, Paul reminds the Thessalonians of the example that he and his co-workers set for them. They were bi-vocational, working a job so that they did not burden these new believers. Paul and friends were “devout… honest… faultless” towards the believers. They treated those new to the faith as a father would treat their children. In this role, Paul and his fellow workers “pleaded with you, encouraged you, and urged you to live your lives in a way that God would consider worthy.” They walked alongside the Thessalonians until they were ready to walk on their own.
Paul wrote this letter to the church in Thessalonica. God’s plan went far beyond that. The words he wrote and the example he set have given guidance to generations of countless believers. We stand in that line of faith. We too are to live out our call to make disciples of Jesus Christ by being devout, honest, and faultless. We are charged with walking alongside new believers, encouraging, challenging, and urging them on in their walk of faith. We are to lift them up, not to place burdens on them.
In the last verse of today’s reading, Paul gives thanks to God for the fruit of their ministry in Thessalonica. There is fruit because the believers heard Paul’s words and his co-workers’ words not as mere human words but as the word of God. Yes, the words came out of human mouths but the Spirit of God gave the words the power to change hearts and lives. And the Spirit continued to work in the new believers, empowering them to live out their faith. This is a good reminder to us. As we seek to live out our call and to witness to our faith, we too can trust that the power to transform lives comes not from us or from our efforts. The same Spirit of God will be at work, moving hearts and transforming lives. For this we say, thanks be to God!
Prayer: Lord God, strengthen and encourage us. Lift us and prod us on. Fill us with the words to speak. Guide us in the actions to take. In all things, may our lives and our witness bring you the glory. Amen.
