As a Christian, one of the things I think I’m supposed to be is a blessing to others. I think that’s a basic part of following Jesus and bearing God’s image, that my presence in peoples’ lives will be a good thing for them. I just sometimes am uncertain about what that looks like.
The Thessalonian Christians were a blessing to Paul, one that he thanked God for all the time. He told them so, and why, in 1 Thessalonians 1:2-3: “We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.”
What blessed Paul was not just that they had the spiritual fruits of faith, hope and love, but that those fruits were obvious by active outcomes. Faith had produced work, probably in this context what we would call kingdom work that furthered the spread of the Gospel. Love had resulted in labor, in all likelihood what we would call service or acts of love to other people. And hope became endurance, the ability to withstand the hard knocks that the Father of Lies wants us to see as calamitous evidence that God is absent.
I find it fascinating, and helpful, that the three spiritual gifts Paul wrote about so passionately in the Love Chapter are the seeds that produce in these Christians the fruit that blessed him, so much so that he continually mentioned them to God.
If my religion produces kingdom work, loving service and hopeful endurance, that will probably bless the people around me too.
No comments:
Post a Comment