Category: Devotionals

After encouraging the Thessalonian congregation to love and support their leaders, Paul turned to the way in which individuals in the congregation, and the congregation as a whole, could care for each other. He did this by urging them to action

After encouraging us to look forward to Christ’s return with the knowledge that we are no longer under God’s wrath, Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians turns to a series of final instructions. The first instruction relates to the way that the Thessalonians were to treat their leaders.

God calls us to vigilance and discipline against the sinful temptations in the world, as we await Christ’s return. We are to build each other up in faith, hope, and love.

We too are children of the light. Being children of the light means being delivered from God’s judgement, and having the sure hope of salvation. It is not something we need to fight for, it is something we are given. We are given revelation of our sin, and our salvation in Jesus Christ. Our hearts…

From encouraging the Thessalonians to take heart that, whether dead or alive, Christians would rise from the dead or the earth to join Christ in his triumphant return, Paul moves to the next logical question – when?

In this passage, Paul certainly does address the end times – specifically the return of Christ. But he does so with a purpose in mind; to encourage and comfort the Thessalonian Church to grieve for fellow brothers and sisters in Christ who had died, but not without hope. Paul’s words encourage us to look forward…

Because showing love for one another is a vitally important part of being a Christian. For each other, as fellow adopted brothers and sisters of God, and for outsiders too, in the way we live. Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians encouraged them to deepen and broaden the ways in which they loved each other,…

The Thessalonian church, like ours today, was called to God’s standard of holiness. As people come to faith in Christ, or grow up in a world of very different standards, they need to learn the standards required of Christians, to live pleasing God, not self. That presents itself in many ways, but first of all,…