THE BEAUTY FOUND IN CARING

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

So when we could stand it no longer, we thought it best to be left by ourselves in Athens. We sent Timothy, who is our brother and co-worker in God’s service in spreading the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith, so that no one would be unsettled by these trials. For you know quite well that we are destined for them. In fact, when we were with you, we kept telling you that we would be persecuted. And it turned out that way, as you well know. For this reason, when I could stand it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith. I was afraid that in some way the tempter had tempted you and that our labors might have been in vain.

1 Thessalonians 3:1-5

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

The Apostle Paul could have easily just given up.

As we saw in yesterday’s message from the closing verses of 1 Thessalonians, chapter 2, Paul and his fellow missionaries longed to return to Thessalonica to visit the church and their brothers and sisters in Christ but were “blocked” by Satan from doing so (2:18). This was very hurtful for Paul especially who had a beautiful longing to once again see the Thessalonian Christians.

In fact, as chapter 3 opens, we find that this longing became so strong that Paul and the others couldn’t “stand it” any longer so they came up with an alternate plan. It’s often been said that when things don’t work out as we would like them to (or as we think they should), “God always has a Plan B” and this was certainly the case with Paul.

For after what I’m sure was lots of prayerful consideration, Paul and his other fellow Gospel workers decided to remain in Athens and sent Timothy “to strengthen and encourage” the Thessalonian believers in their faith. The Apostle makes sure he qualifies Timothy as a “brother and co-worker in God’s service” in the “spreading of the gospel of Christ”.

In other words, Paul wanted the church in Thessalonica to know that although he wasn’t able to come personally, he was sending someone who would bless them greatly and help them grow as Christians.

Paul could have just sent as note informing the Thessalonians that a visit was just not going to work out but he cared too much for them. Knowing that the believers of Thessalonica were new in Christ, he knew they would be vulnerable to Satan’s attack. He feared the “tempter” might persuade the church to abandon the Gospel and thus leave the prior labors of establishing the church in vain.

And so Timothy was dispatched to check on things and to further strengthen the faith of the Thessalonian believers. He also wanted to assure them that Paul and the others were okay despite the persecution they were experiencing.

Through Paul’s words, we find the beauty of caring for others. The Apostle wasn’t self centered and only concerned about his own difficult circumstances. Rather, following the lead of Jesus, he was willing to put himself second so others, his brothers and sisters in Thessalonica in this case, could be first.

Friends, I’m sure we all have people we can care for today and they don’t have to be people that we know. There’s an incredible amount of need in our world today, a portion of it easily found in any community we might live in. Let’s all commit to be like Jesus as Paul did and show that the beauty found in caring comes by showing His love and compassion to others through the way we live.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com