The prayer we are meditating on is, “I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent...” (1 Tim. 1:12-13). Yesterday, we talked about why it is a privilege to serve Christ. One of the reasons is that simply on the side of the truth is immeasurably better than being on the side of ignorance and illusion, especially if we can help others to see the truth, which leads to eternal life. Today, we will see another reason: the glory of the One, whom we are called to serve.
Read MoreThe next prayer we will meditate on is, “I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent...” (1 Tim. 1:12-13). Here is a prayer of thanksgiving. Paul gives thanks to Christ for the gospel ministry He entrusted to him.
Read MoreToday, we move on to another short benediction: “Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all” (2 Thess. 3:16). This is a simple benediction with one theme—peace. It invokes “the Lord of peace”; it prays for peace. But this benediction is as wonderful as it is short and simple.
Read MoreWe are continuing our reflection on Paul’s short benediction in 2 Thess. 3:5: “May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.” Yesterday, we talked about the Lord directing our hearts to the love of God. Today, let’s meditate on the Lord directing our hearts to the steadfastness of Christ.
Read MoreWe are continuing our reflection on Paul’s short benediction in 2 Thess. 3:5: “May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.” Yesterday, we talked about the Lord being the Lord of our hearts and what it means for the Lord to direct our hearts. Today, let’s observe that Paul is asking the Lord to direct our hearts to the love of God. Let us first acknowledge that our hearts need to be directed by God because they are distracted by so many things and pulled in so many directions throughout the day. Our hearts jump from one distraction to another, from one task to another on our to-do list , from one worry to another, etc. It takes only a little distraction to break our concentration, a little disturbance to trigger anger and resentment. Our hearts often feel like the game of musical chairs played by all kinds of thoughts and feelings and desires, constantly circling and shifting. Instead of a tree planted by streams of water, our hearts are like chaff that the wind drives in all directions. We need our Lord to direct our hearts.
Read MoreToday, we are reflecting on another short prayer, a benediction: “May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ” (2 Thess. 3:5).Notice that Paul is asking the Lord to direct the hearts of the Thessalonians. This implies that Christ is the Lord of their hearts. What does that mean? This is a difficult doctrine to grasp. On the one hand, the Bible recognizes man as a moral agent with his own will, on account of which he is accountable for his actions. Man is not a robot. His thoughts are his, not anyone else’s, not even God’s.
Read MoreWe have a short petition to reflect on today: “[Pray for us] that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men. For not all have faith” (2 Thess. 3:2). This follows the first petition in the previous verse: “Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you....” Jeffrey A.D. Weima points out the logical connection between these two petitions in this way: “if the word of the Lord is to run and be honored, then the proclaimers of that word, Paul and his coworkers, must be rescued from certain evil individuals who are thwarting them from carrying out their evangelistic activity” (p. 588).
Read MoreLet’s end this week with Paul's request for prayer to the Thessalonians: “Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you...” (2 Thess. 3:1). Here, Paul is asking them to pray for him and Silvanus and Timothy (2 Thess. 1:1), on behalf of whom he is writing this letter. As we will see, this prayer is particularly for the ministers of the gospel. What a timely prayer to consider as we finish this week and look forward to the Lord’s Day and our worship service! Paul begins this request by saying, “Finally, brothers, pray for us....” But what he actually asks them to pray for is “...that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored....” As you can see, he is not asking them to pray for their comfort and convenience; he is asking them to pray for their ministry of the Word to be successful. Clearly, his sense of identity is closely bound up with his ministry: to pray for him is to pray for his ministry of the Word to succeed. We often speak of the vocational hazard of identifying ourselves too much with our job. So, many lose their sense of self-worth and purpose and fall into depression when they lose their job or retire. Some wither away quickly and die soon after their retirement. Obviously, they were too vested in their occupation.
Read MoreOne day more on Paul’s prayer in 2 Thess. 2:16-17: “Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.” The last point of this benediction is that God and Jesus would establish our hearts in every good work and word. This morning, let’s remind ourselves of the close relationship between our hearts and our work and word. Jesus hinted at this close relationship between our hearts and our work and word when He said, “For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery...” (Mark 7:21). He shows us that our heart is the source of our thoughts and words and actions. Also, Paul commands Christians to do “the will of God from the heart” (Eph. 6:6) and become “obedient from the heart” (Rom. 6:17). This assumes that true obedience comes from the heart, which loves God and submits itself to God’s sovereign authority.
Read MoreThe prayer we are reflecting on is, “Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word” (2 Thess. 2:16-17). Yesterday, we talked about how God comforts us with eternal comfort. Today, let’s talk about God’s gift of good hope. This expression, “good hope,” is somewhat new to us. We are more familiar with “a living hope” (1 Pet. 1:3), “our blessed hope” (Tit. 2:13), “a better hope” (Heb. 7:9), etc. The adjective, “good,” has such a wide range of meanings that it is hard to pin down what Paul meant by it. But it is also very likely that he wants us to apply its meaning in all of its richness to this particular use.
Read More