Text: 1 Thessalonians 1 (English Standard Version)
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.
2 We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers,3 remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you,5 because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.6 And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit,7 so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.8 For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything.9 For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and 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 delivers us from the wrath to come.
Takeaways:
- This chapter gives us a foundation for understanding Paul’s relationship to the church at Thessalonica.
- Paul was grateful for the Thessalonians.
- As a Christian, do I chose to live as someone that recognizes I have been chosen for something special? Not anything of myself or my own doing, but something God chose for me and proved to me in the person of His Son Jesus Christ.
- I want to be known as an imitator of the Lord.
- How am I leveraging my influence to propel the gospel and prosper the people around me?
I enjoyed this small break down of the biblical verse. I find the more I can relate to others relating to the bible the stronger my relationship becomes with the church. I thank Hyatt’s blog for getting me here and hope you get a copy of the Maxwell book. As a linchpin in my own job and family, I find that educators can be a starting link to the growth in that department. I can still remember my HS conversations with my Physics teacher in my senior year. He saved me from a life of labor and launched me onto a life of success. Funny thing is I still conversate with others that Mr Peterson saved as well and I’m 34 and moved all over the world, military veteran. I would have surely fallen into societies cracks without the help of strong educators early in my life as family life did not provide that for me. Thanks to you and countless other educators in the world. Cheers.
James