October 10

Stand It No Longer
1 Thessalonians 2:10-3:13

My mother tells me that I never wrote her while I was in college.  The facts that the college was forty miles away from home, and I came home frequently, are not relevant to the point.  Mother was upset that I did not write.
Parents are like that.  We raise our children with the full intention of turning them into adults who are mature and responsible - and then are shocked to discover that they don't need us every other minute.  Why the surprise?  Because we care;  we love our children and long to know how they are doing.
Paul is like that here.  The Thessalonians are his children in the faith;  he has been separated from them.  So first he tries to return to them;  then he sends Timothy.  At long last the good news comes to him:  they have been faithful!  His labors were not in vain;  his children are strong in the faith.
Now, does God see you in the same way?  Perhaps it has been some time since he has heard from you.  Has he sent someone special to look in on you, to encourage you in the faith?  Someone you respect and even love?  This just might be a sign of how much he cares for you.
Like Paul, our Lord Jesus longs to return, waiting only for the moment selected by the Father.  In the meanwhile, he sends to us those like Timothy, to encourage us and to lead us.  These may be great orators, or simple Christians.  What will he find?
The Thessalonians had been through trials, as Paul had told them they would.  They had been persecuted by their own countrymen.  This will happen with us as well, for the world will always seek to drive out the church.  Paul had prepared them for this;  they met the test.  But just to make sure, he sent Timothy to strengthen them.  God will do the same for us.
In each age and generation the trials will come.  They differ in form and intensity, but they are there.  These are God's ways of refining the church.  Those who withstand the trials come out stronger for them.  God is seeking such.  Those who have overcome serve to pass the faith along to the next generation.
There remains the question:  "when the Son of Man returns, will he find faith upon the earth?"  He will - if we will remain faithful in time of trial.  Let us therefore encourage one another, for the time is short - and eternity is long.