June 4, 2024

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10  (HCSB)
Greeting
1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy: To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace to you and peace.
Thanksgiving
2 We always thank God for all of you, remembering you constantly in our prayers. 3 We recall, in the presence of our God and Father, your work of faith, labor of love, and endurance of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, 4 knowing your election, brothers loved by God.  5 For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, in the Holy Spirit, and with much assurance. You know what kind of men we were among you for your benefit, 6 and you became imitators of us and of the Lord when, in spite of severe persecution, you welcomed the message with joy from the Holy Spirit. 7 As a result, you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 8 For the Lord’s message rang out from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place that your faith in God has gone out. Therefore, we don’t need to say anything, 9 for they themselves report what kind of reception we had from you: how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God 10 and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.

Kimberly Ivey
Do you remember the last few verses of what we read yesterday? Jason and other believers were arrested just because they knew Paul and Silas. We see here in vs. 6 that Paul is aware of the persecutions going on in Thessalonica. His heart hurts for the new believers that he left there, and at the same time, it swells with pride for the faithfulness that they have shown, both while he was with them and after he left. Isn’t this a beautiful passage? Can you imagine receiving this letter from a trusted mentor in the faith? Now imagine being that mentor. I’m a school nurse at a middle school. I have students that I see daily that suffer from a chronic condition. One of my roles is to teach them how to live successfully with that condition as best I can in the 3 years that I have them, then send them on to high school. I have one in particular that I’m getting ready to send on. He’s experienced a lot of adversity in the time he’s been at my school, and you can bet I’m going to keep tabs on him in high school. It is my prayer that I hear glowing reports of how well he is doing, maybe even influencing others with his condition in the best way. I like to think that if I sent him a letter about how proud I am of him-of all that I’ve heard of him, how he’s doing and the influence he’s having on the people around him, that he would be encouraged to keep going. Why don’t we think like that about new Christians in our church? Are we even taking that first step, to walk with them in the newness of their faith as Paul alluded to in verse 5?