Begin with 2 minutes of silence and stillness before God.

When I think of Paul, I don’t think of a church receiving praise. I often think of the lectures he gave to the church of Corinth. He loved them, but he never really had a prayer of thanksgiving for them where he listed all the things they had done correctly. However, that is exactly how he starts off his second letter to the church of Thessalonica. They basically received the most gold of all gold stars from Paul.

This was a young church. Not young as in their age, but in how long they had been converted Christians. Their youth didn’t hinder them, though. In verses three through ten, Paul thanks God for the growth of their faith, their love for one another, and their perseverance through hardships.

Today I overslept, therefore “preventing” myself from spending time with God, had a very Monday-ish Tuesday at work, and locked my keys in my car. In the grand scheme of things, none of these things were hardships, but, like I previously stated in yesterday’s devotional, it was hard for me to dig deep and follow through with W. W. J. D.

Did I pursue God in an attempt to strengthen or grow my faith? Did I show a God-like love for those around me? Did I have any perseverance or did I give up when the going got tough? We’re not persecuted like the Church is in other parts of the world. In fact – as a whole – we have grown lazy and spoiled.

We miss church because of a ball game the night before. We don’t volunteer because we want our Sundays or Wednesday nights to ourselves. We don’t help a co-worker in need because maybe they annoyed us one too many times. When something in the Scripture offends us or is hard to understand, we close the Bible until the next spurt of motivation hits.

We’re all guilty of this in some manner, even those who a younger me viewed as “perfect” as I mentioned in Monday’s devotional. We must be persistent in our faith because, I don’t know about you, but I’d like bragging rights for receiving a gold star from Paul, or better yet, God Himself when He says, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Take 2 minutes to reflect in silence.

Reflection:

• Take a moment and pray through the last few versions of today’s reading. (1 Thessalonians 1:11-12)
• Prayer: Dear Lord, we pray that You would enable us to live a life worthy of the call and give us the power to accomplish all the good things our faith prompts us to do. We pray that you will be honored through the way we live.

Family Devo: 2 Thessalonians 1

By: Anna Beth Scott

When partnering with your family to know, love, and follow Jesus, we strive to create and share content filtered by the Head-Heart-Hands model.   

Head: the knowledge of God and His Word | Heart: the personal connection from scripture | Hands: a missional mindset  

Head

Second Thessalonians is Paul’s second letter to the church of Thessalonica.  Some of the issues he addressed in his first letter had gotten worse so he wrote another letter to encourage the church, clear up misunderstandings, and give a challenge.  In the first chapter, he tells the church how proud he is of them for their endurance and faithfulness in all the persecutions and hardships they are suffering.  The Romans, Greeks, and possibly Jews had ramped up their persecution of followers of Jesus.  Christians were suffering in all kinds of ways simply for believing in Jesus.  Paul says that God will show His justice to those who are persecuting His church.  He also says God will make those suffering worthy of His Kingdom because of their suffering and that He will provide rest.  He ends this chapter by saying: 

"And so we keep on praying for you, that our God will make you worthy of the life to which he called you.  And we pray that God, by his power, will fulfill all your good intentions and faithful deeds.  Then everyone will give honor to the name of our Lord Jesus because of you, and you will be honored along with him.  This is all made possible because of the undeserved favor of our God and Lord, Jesus Christ."  2 Thessalonians 1:11-12 

He points us back to what matters in the end, honoring our Lord Jesus.  

Heart 

It is hard for me to really understand what the early church went through in regard to persecution.  We don’t have to worry about being physically hurt because of our belief in Jesus.  We may be laughed at and made fun of, but our lives are not in danger because we are Christians.  What assurance in Jesus the early church had to have to withstand such suffering!  I would hope that I would have the same confidence in who Jesus is to keep my faith while being persecuted. Even though we’re not physically persecuted, God still calls us to live a life worthy of the Gospel.  The beauty of that calling is that God has already done everything. The Gospel is about what Christ has already done for us on the cross, not about what we can do.  We don’t have to do anything to earn God’s love and we can’t do anything to lessen His love.  We just rest in Him and approach life from a viewpoint of God’s grace.  We can pray the same prayers Paul prayed for ourselves and our loved ones.  We can love and serve people boldly in our daily lives. 

Hands

Paul was such a great encourager.  He saw the church was suffering and wrote letters to offer hope.  Who can you pray for and encourage today?  Maybe you know of someone who is going through a hard time.  Pray for them like Paul did.  Use the same words he used but insert their name.  After you’ve prayed, send them a note or message letting them know you’re thinking of them. 

Prayer: Dear Lord, thank You for the early church’s example of faithfulness in spite of suffering.  Help us to follow their example of faithfulness and perseverance in the faith.  Thank You for Your unconditional love.  Help me to rest in it and live as I believe it.  Who can I encourage today?  Who needs to hear a message of hope from You through me?  Show me, Lord. In Jesus’s name, Amen.