Daily Bread 2011 - 1 Thessalonians 2
As apostles of Christ we could have been a burden to you, 7 but we were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her little children. 8 We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us. 9 Surely you remember, brothers, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you.
What Does This Mean?
When we see the success of the church in Thessalonica, we see here some of the reason for Paul’s fondness of this church. We see the substantial Paul gave of his own life when he says, “We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God, but our lives as well because you had become so dear to us.” Paul spent his time investing his life in these new believers and compared his care and support of them like a father or mother would deal with their own children.
And in order to not be a burden to them financially Paul also took side jobs which again showed he was putting their interests above his own. It is not an accident then that as they preached the Word of God to them that they received and responded to it, since it had been incarnated so beautifully through Paul and the other apostles.
What Does This Mean For Us?
Paul reminds us that the work of making disciples is a work of incarnating Christ’s love in tangible hands on ways. As the old saying goes which is so true, “people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” You can tell the believers in Thessalonica knew how much Paul cared. This is not a manufacturing of our human love for people, but the love of Christ that flows through us as we share not only the Good News but our very lives as well.
This hard work of discipleship aided by God’s Holy Spirit reminds us that we will likely only be doing it with a handful of people say 6-8 than a crowd. And of course in order to share our very lives with people we will need to make room to spend time with them. We can connect through social media like Facebook, email and texting, but nothing take the place of a face to face meeting with people we are growing in Christ with.
If we hope to be the kind of church Paul describes in Thessalonica we would do well to emulate his method of investing his very life in those he wished to influence. In this way the Gospel can ring out from our churches and change the communities we live in.
Gracious Heavenly Father we thank you for the love you have shown us in Your Son, Jesus. Help us to live out this same sacrificial love with those you have called us to come along side of and share not only the Gospel but our very lives! Amen.
What Does This Mean?
When we see the success of the church in Thessalonica, we see here some of the reason for Paul’s fondness of this church. We see the substantial Paul gave of his own life when he says, “We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God, but our lives as well because you had become so dear to us.” Paul spent his time investing his life in these new believers and compared his care and support of them like a father or mother would deal with their own children.
And in order to not be a burden to them financially Paul also took side jobs which again showed he was putting their interests above his own. It is not an accident then that as they preached the Word of God to them that they received and responded to it, since it had been incarnated so beautifully through Paul and the other apostles.
What Does This Mean For Us?
Paul reminds us that the work of making disciples is a work of incarnating Christ’s love in tangible hands on ways. As the old saying goes which is so true, “people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” You can tell the believers in Thessalonica knew how much Paul cared. This is not a manufacturing of our human love for people, but the love of Christ that flows through us as we share not only the Good News but our very lives as well.
This hard work of discipleship aided by God’s Holy Spirit reminds us that we will likely only be doing it with a handful of people say 6-8 than a crowd. And of course in order to share our very lives with people we will need to make room to spend time with them. We can connect through social media like Facebook, email and texting, but nothing take the place of a face to face meeting with people we are growing in Christ with.
If we hope to be the kind of church Paul describes in Thessalonica we would do well to emulate his method of investing his very life in those he wished to influence. In this way the Gospel can ring out from our churches and change the communities we live in.
Gracious Heavenly Father we thank you for the love you have shown us in Your Son, Jesus. Help us to live out this same sacrificial love with those you have called us to come along side of and share not only the Gospel but our very lives! Amen.
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