June 19, 2023 | Be On Mission
Jesus Glorified in Us
Scripture: 2 Thessalonians 1(NIV)
1 Paul, Silas and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
2 Grace and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing. 4 Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.
5 All this is evidence that God’s judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering. 6 God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you 7 and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. 8 He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might 10 on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.
11 With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith. 12 We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Devotional
Paul wrote this second letter to the new believes in Thessalonica not long after the first letter, and not too long after his visit with them when he established Christianity in that Roman city. The letters of 1 & 2 Thessalonians are among the first extant writings of Paul.
As with the first letter, Paul again tackles the concept of Christ’s return. In fact, this entire letter addresses the second coming of Jesus. Here in chapter one, he says that at the second coming “the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels.” What a potent picture!
When Jesus ascended into heaven and His disciples gawked heavenward, two angels said, “Why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11).
And in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, Paul stated, “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.” What a powerful picture, indeed!
So what do we do between now and then? How do we live our lives on earth, knowing that it is merely a drop in the bucket of eternity? In verse 11, Paul gives us a glimpse into the answer to those questions. We live our lives so that our desires and deeds line up with the calling of God. Desires are about the head and heart. Deeds are about the hands and feet. When our desires and deeds align with God’s calling and power, Jesus will be glorified in us!
Pray for one another, “that God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith.”
Poem
Abundantly Increasing
As storm clouds swirl
And torrents rain
Deep water springs are swelling
As roots reach low
Their nomad search
Oasis grounds a-welling
Rich sap expands
The fruit trees’ veins
To leaves nutrition giving
As sun gives forth
Her warming light
Buds soon spring forth a-living
Soon swarms of bees
Their labor start
From flower to flower a-lighting
The fertile bulge
The womb of seed
Delicious fruit now sighting
As trials, tests
A-challenge come
Trust in the Father forming
Prayer reaches deep
Hope clings to Rock
A perseverance knowing
New grace brings awe
As cells of soul
New life and balm encourage
A confidence
Not fore-time known
Brings forth a victor’s courage
Now standing firm
With witness clear
Faith stable without ceasing
Great fruit is borne
Deep love is shared
Abundantly increasing
